As Indigenous firefighters learned new skills in Prince Albert on Thursday, one member says its just part of a bigger goal to have a fire hall in her community. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Indigenous fire services

First Nation councilor hopes feds fill promise for fire hall soon

Aug 29, 2024 | 5:00 PM

A councillor on the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear Head, Lean Man First Nation in central Saskatchewan is hoping to get some movement on a federal promise to build a fire hall in the community.

Celeste Sanders, who is also on her local fire department, explained that their fire department will use the training they are getting in Prince Albert on Thursday to help meet the regulations surrounding fire departments which will, in turn, help get the fire hall built.

“We would like to save our own homes, and this is the first kind of step towards it is getting some of the the formal training,” she said.

“We’re looking for a start date and we’re hoping for a start date soon,” she said.

The 20 members of their fire department are divided into several crews and were in Prince Albert as part of the First Nation’s Provincial Firefighting Competition, being held near the Northern Lights Casino.

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Thursday was a day of training with crews learning everything from vehicle extractions to ladder safety, ATV usage and how to run a chainsaw.

Like virtually all communities, Mosquito, Grizzly Bear Head Lean man needs the ability to fight structure fires and wildfires.

“We’ve seen the need for like to do structural fires, of course, like North Battleford is about 20 minutes away,” she said. “We have to go into service agreements with them. As you know, of the one First Nation up here, they wouldn’t get a call because they had owed money to the fire departments.”

Her community is a municipality in its own right, she said, and has 130 houses holding about 700 band members. There is a school and public buildings and with North Battleford a significant drive in case of emergency, the band felt it was important to have their own service to keep people safe.

“Sometimes it’s, you know, it they come and its already 20 minutes into a house fire, well the house is gone,” she said. “Having our own reserve fire department was something that we saw we needed.”

They had a six plex burn last year, which displaces six families. Often, those are large families, so the impact is significant.

Those homes have been replaced with single family dwellings but they are also planning a 40-unit subdivision, which will increase the need for firefighting services.

“We were supposed to get our fire hall from ISC last year, and then this year, and so we’re kind of having an uphill battle. We’ve got all this equipment but we have nowhere to put it.”

Last year, Sanders said they were given a five-seater fire truck from Prince Albert when they replaced theirs.

To operate the fire truck reliably year-round (they contain water and can’t freeze), they need a fire hall. To get proper turnout gear, they need a fire hall to store it in.

In addition to the donated truck, they also bought their own two seater with a spray cannon, several trucks with fire caddies used more for wildland fires and a quad.

The department is only five years old and Sanders has been a member since day one.

Like many small community fire departments, they are run by volunteers and those volunteers have day jobs. Some are single fathers and can’t leave young children alone to go fight fires.

Firefighting is about more than putting out blazes, members are also called on to get accident victims out of vehicles. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

Still, the level of commitment is high, they work their day jobs and still show up tired to do the training and drop everything to go on actual calls.

“It’s a lot of work and a big commitment,” Sanders said.

Despite being a new department and still figuring some things out, the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear Head, Lean Man fire department has turned out to help their own neighbours when needed.

Nearby Red Pheasant has no fire services like trucks or anything so the call goes to Sander’s department.

“We almost lost Red Pheasant School this past year, and we went out and we saved it,” she said.

On Friday, the firefighters learning skills the day before will turn their attention towards more fun things like having their annual skills competition.

That starts at 9 am and the day will wrap up with a banquet meant to honour all the volunteers.

A number of tools firefighters use to extricate people from vehicles following a collision. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com