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This is the final instalment ina

| four-part series of feature

articles about the Terrace Fire
Department. Last week reporter
Tod Strachan described on-the-

job experiences with local fire-.

fighters. This week he examines

___ the support they need from the
_ public and from taxpayers to do
_ their job the way it needs to be

done.

Even with the stress of the job
there are parts of the firefighting
profession that are rewarding
and positive, The well-used Fire
Safety House, for example. Built

by volunteers with money and

merchandise donated mostly by
the local community, the Fire
Safety House demonstrates very
clearly to children and adults

‘what to expect in the event of a

fire and how to get out alive.

But even with the lighter
moments and the rewards of
saving lives, the life of a fire-
fighter is no bed of roses. There
is a lot of responsibility, stress
and hard work involved, and
precise use of training and
equipment. There is absolutely
no room for error.

And this brings us back to
where we began, the need for
the right kirid of training and
equipment. Automobile Extrica-
tion 1991, a regional intensive
training session held at North-
west Community College recent-
ly, was a milestone and the
beginning, perhaps, of much
more to come.

Terrace fire chief Bob Beckett
says he will be working in con-
junction with NWCC and the

MORE THAN |
SMOKE-EATERS

Justice Institute to develop a

three-year curriculum he hopes.

will begin | next spring.
Terrace Fire Department train-
ing officer Rick Owens applauds

the idea, hoping it will ore day —
lead to a full scale regional

training centre in Terrace. ,

Says Owens: "I think Terrace
as a regional training centre has
a lot to offer... With the college
and with the dormitories, cafe-

teria. A lot * OF the! smaller: de-

partments catifiot afford to travel

‘down south and put their people

in motels, whereas we re looking

at possibly using the campus

dorms and cafeteria as an easier
way."
There are budgetary consider-

ations, of course, but Beckett

demonstrated with Automobile
Extrication 1991 that there is a
way to keep costs down.

The total cost for the week-
long program was close to

$8,000. That’s a big chunk out
of the fire department’s budget
and a limiting factor to the
amount of training that might
happen here. It is cheaper than
the only existing alternative,
however, sending Terrace fire-
fighters to train at the Justice
Institute Fire Academy in
Vancouver.

But a number of professionals
from outside our community

were attracted to the program,.

and as a result the cost was

reduced to only $385 per stu-

dent. The Terrace Fire Depart-
ment had to pay only a little
over $2,000 of the total cost. —

And the economy of that
$2,000 will be stretched even

Terrace Review —— Wednesday, December 4, 1991 25

‘Bob Beckett:
Training here makes
economic sense.

Ken Jones:
Fire service managers have.
to do their homework.

Bill:Warcup:
The more tools you have,
the better off you are.

further. On Nov. 22 and 23,
Terrace firefighters who attended
the program gave a mini-course
on what they learned to other
members of the department.

With a training program in
place, something further is
required: greater awareness of
the firefighters’ rea! functions so
fire department costs are seen by
the community in a more accu-
tate perspective. .

As Ken Jones, the Ontario fire

official who ran Auto Extrication
1991, points out, municipal
governments constantly find
themselves in a budgetary bind
and are forced to weigh the
value of purchasing a new fire
engine, for example, with a new

grader. And the grader, of:

course, will show more tangible
results,
' "But it’s very difficult to do it

‘without the proper tools and

without the proper training,"
says Jones. "And sometimes the
equipment is not there or the

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training is not there because of
budgetary restraints. Therefore,
the fire service managers obvi-
ously have to do their homework
to convince their councils.

For the Terrace fire depart-
ment, though, a new fire engine
isn’t on the wish list at the pres-
ent time. We asked firefighter
Bill Warcup what be believed
was needed most and he
answered by listing a few basic
tools.

In rescuing trapped victims of
automobile accidents a manual
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‘saw with the right kind of blade
would be much safer than using

a fire axe to remove wind-
shields, More come-alongs are

. required and so are the appropri-

ate chains. And there’s some-
thing new, a device called a
hydraulic ram. This ‘useful piece
of equipment can roll the dash
tight off the front of a car.

"If you come onto a situation,"
says Warcup. "you had better be
able to handle it to the best of
your ability. And if the equip-
ment’s not there it’s going to be
a lot more difficult, isn’t it? So
the more tools you have, the
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