_ FIREFIGHTER’S DIARY Mike Moore is a_ volunteer firefighter with the Thornhill Fire ‘Department. By MIKE MOORE EING A firefighter « has been a dream of mine since 1 was a - child and earlier last ycar it finally became a reality. ~. -P started to volunteer my time to our focal -fire department to the only good cause] can think of — helping other people. _-My dreams always saw myself parading around in big red fire trucks, the flashing of red lights and. wearing the. world-known yellow gear, “My vision of firefighters was . the. picture of men and women * made of steel, almost invincible to anything they had to face, It seemed: like: firefighters always came: out of every situalion jook- ing like heroes and with their big . hearts they are al anyone’s bec- : koning call in the time of need. ~ AS one knows, dreams can’t last ’ forever, .and they were quickly -shaltered’ in the cold moming air . on December 30, 1992. _ Tragedy struck for one last time - 2 in'1992, less than 48 hours before “the New. Year. The members in * the;department had. become friends, almost ike family . and : after. this day [ was going to need ~ them inore than ever. : was awoken al approximately : a.m. by the sound every : firefighter dreads — a call for ) Aelp.: : -Dwas,_ out the front door before My. eyes. were open and before _-my'shirt was on, not noticing the Cold . temperatures against my bare skin. Traced to the hall to find other -. firefighters. showing up in much ©. “thesame .state and with no time . for greetings of any sort. -have very, little recollection of riving to the scene except thal he emergency vehicle would not vehicle. seemed to be in the way. We arrived on the scene just be- ore 6:50 a.m, There“is na way to “deseribe at we faced next, nor do I want . ‘there are’ words, nt xistence.- 4o describe the feeling f. helplessness that fell over me ayor Public works TERRACE -- Aldermen are oing ta be spending more time at ‘committee mectings in '93 than they did last year. :That's one effect of changes an- «nounced by mayor Jack Talstra in bis annual” committee appoint- 2 ments. <-Talstra has increased the num- + ‘bee of committees from three to ive; the same figure as in 1991. s announced late last year, a using and social services com- ittee has been. created, to be ned. by “aldermen Danny heridan (chairman), Rick King d Ruth Hallock, -- ‘he other ‘‘new’? one bas been Created by sub-dividing the old inning and Public. Works com- mittee'(PPW). here-will now be two separate the Planning committee Age Publ planning: issues; ; rag 8 not the only respon- ibility lost by the Previous PPW :I'fast enough and every other Knowing that there were people , fill deal with. all zoning © I don’t think there are words in existence to de- scribe the feeling of help- lessness that fell over me when I saw the house in its blazing state. unaccounted for and seeing the fire in the stage it was made my stomach tie itself in knots which I still have not managed to untie, That was the moment I realized we weren’t made of steel and we weren’t gaing to be able to walk away from this looking like heroes. ~ All we bad was our drive to help. someone, our courage and our big hearts. We tried to control something that was out of control, something that took no mercy on anyone in jts way and would put up a fight right through to the bit- ter end. 1 saw the look in the cxperi- enced firefighters’ faces and they would have done anything to win this battle, which we had already lost. We were trained to. perform duties that would look almost like miracles but today we learned something that could never be shown to us and could never be read in our training manuals — to walk away with heads held high, telling ourselves we did every- thing we possibly could, To most of us that was the hardest lesson and no matter how many times it may happen, it is something we cannot do easily. After that long cold day was over, I sat at the fire ball and cried, I was cried for the family I never kuew and [ cried because ° circumstances never allowed us to perform the job we were trained to do. Today there were no heroes —- only -people in mourning for the ones that ‘were lost. I soon learmed that the friends i in the department that [ considered my second family were truly my family. We had to hold together feito -Pull Ours ee sone this because ‘we had ajob to do, We grieve the loss of the five - people who lost their lives, maybe not as deeply as the family and friends, but we feel the pain just the same, ; adds two new committees gets split up building inspection department’ matters, transferring these to the Finance committee. Finance also pels a new chairman, Darryl Laurent replac-: ing Sheridan who had‘ held the post for the past two years, Sheridan remains on the com- mittee and Bob Cooper is back alter a year's, break. Ruth Haltock wil! chair the new Planning committee (she chaired the PPW. in 1991) and the other two members will be Sheridan and Cooper, . Heading up the Public Works committee will be Mo Takhar, last: year’s PPW chairman,’ and he’s joined by Cooper and Laurent, For Laurent, it’s his first ‘stint on both Finance and Public Works since being re-clected in 1990 while Cooper remains a fix- ture on Public Works. Alderman Rick King gets his third straight year as chairman of the Community and Recreation Services - committee, - Hallock repeats as a member and Takhar shifts back from. Finance lo com. plete the trio. Facing a sharp increase. in their committee workload as a result of day that had no heroes | The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, January 13, 1998 - Page AS _ TOTHETERRACE STANDARD THORNHILL FIREFIGHTER Mike Moore and the other volunteers at the department ¢ continue to struggle with the emotional aftermath of the fire that kilied five people on Valleyview Ave Dec. 30. A few of us will have sleepless nights and a few of us will shed tears, but none of us shall forget that day. E khiody' Will ‘be! rethtindell’ bt that” trigit"'morning? “every “timid I’m awoken from my sleep by an- other call for help. Hopefully next. time we can use our training to prevent-a tragedy like this fom happening provided U the circum- ihe changes are Hallock and Cooper. . Both served on only one com- mittee Jast year and now find themselves on three. Sheridan will sit on three (up from two in °92) and Laurent goes to two from one. Takhar and King remain at two committee posts. Below, the list. of Taltra’ § coun- cil committee appointments which are effective until the new council takes over following this November’smunicipal elections. stances allow us to walk away looking like heroes. Time will heal our pain as our family bond ers. lighter, dcep pest endolences to’ the’ ni ly. “ahd ‘ftlends: Ti inour, ‘your. _ Toss with j you. * ; - Thank you to’ my secand family for helping me understand, the - pain I felt, a The next time you hear our ‘ Ruth Hallock Danny Sheridan siren scream through the night’s silent air; “yémember we are responding to a call for help. ‘Pray for’us ‘that We' da walk" i -away with ‘oui heads“held high?! ! ’ feeling like we-made a difference, because -all we have: to win the fight is our drive'to help some- one, our courage and our big. hearts; Who’s where Finance Laurent Sheridan Cooper Public Works Takhar Cooper Laurent Planning : Hallock Cooper Sheridan Communily/Recreation. Hallock Takhar Housing/Soc, Services Sheridan = °°. King Hallock — (Chairmen in bold type) © | earning how to. read. . Liste the Start. is ‘for people . "Messy “pickers | Some . people. . picked ‘mushrooms last year made.a big mess. They ‘camped: “near Cranberry Junction’. ps “They left’ their camps without cleaning up. Forest ministry workers - had to clean up then mess. afterwards. os ‘who 7 Young skaters enjoyed the sunshine: at Lakelse Lake. They were at thie lake on New Year’s Day, | , It was very cold outside. They played hockey out ontheice, — FUN ON THE ICE Elections are unfair Dear Sir: ; With regards to the election procedures for Speakers and other elections for the Gitksan ad Wet'suwet’en People. Why is it only the chosen few. are. allowed to. vote?: Why is it that because of wha they ‘are, and their family ties, adopted people, regardless of where they live, both on and off reserve, are they allowed to tun for Speaker or appointed, and allowed to vote, Non Indians who are adopted into cerlain clans were allowed to vote. This isn’t our hereditary chiefs system. This is not democracy, To me, this is called railroading, And this is my opinion. What happens with the “‘on reserve” elections and the pro- cedures in the “office of the hereidtary chiefs office’’ af- fects all band members both on and off reserve regardless of where they live. The govern- ment knows this. Wé know it! The election. procedures should be universal so aH] band members both on and off feserve can vote on important issues that affect their tives. And those who wish to ab- stain can do so, and not be told they cannot vote because they don’t belong in a certain area, Yours truly, Mary G. Dalen, Cedarvale, B.C. Frustrated by vandals Dear Sir: During the first week of No- vember, vandalism and arson took place on rural property. It was bad enough that a wheel barrow and garden tools had been stolen back in the spring. The old mobile home trailer that was torched this fall, was old and deretict, | But what really gets io me is the, deliberate destruction of a ‘barn, All that’s. lelt ig the metal tooting ‘and ‘biackeiied ash.” a 0 It is frustratitig, and sad.-at the same time, that: certaln people get their’ kicks. from burning up privale Property. Barb Newman « -- ’ Kitimat, B.C, New hope for Max — Dear Sir: I would like to publicly thank the doctors at the Terrace Veterinary . Medical - Centre, and the local SPCA’- for demonstrating their caring atti- tude toward animals by help- ing save an ‘unadoptable’ four month old puppy. . Our family, particularly. our . “ten-year-old son, became quite attached to ‘Max’ despite an “obvious leg injury and we wanted very much to ‘adopt him. - - ‘We were led to believe that é cost’ af repairing his leg “would likely be high, too high to realistically make him a can- -didale for adoption, but the “SPCA. was willing to help pay “for X-rays etc. to find out. ». The results of these were dis- : ‘heartening, the leg was very badly broken and the surgery “would require bone plates and pins in his upper leg, .[t would _ also ‘cost several hundred ‘dol- vars. “We were heartbroken at ithe “ thought putting Max down. He “ds an incredibly lovable, sweet ‘tempered dog, but the cost of repairing his leg was 15 probibl- tive, Doctors Elorza ' and Sager welt above and beyond the call of duty by waiving a por- tion of their fee and combined wilh the unwavering support of Cam Bellamy of the SPCA, and our own resources the surgery was no longer finan- cially unrealistic. Our son went to see Santa prior to Max’s surgery and rather than ask for all of those toys we'd beard ‘so’. much about, all he asked was for his dog's leg to get better. Life is not always fir and the world can be a cruel place, but this holiday season our family and Max. don’t: set it that way! ‘Debbie Smoley Terrace, B.C.