Firefighters living in remote Northern communities are getting a rare training opportunity.
When the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) said it's bringing a mobile live fire training unit (MLFTU) to Moosonee, the local fire chief saw an opportunity.
“I made a commitment to try to get all of the James Bay region involved,” said Scott Grant, Moosonee's fire chief. “I started reaching out to our Indigenous community partners. So we’re training about 60 firefighters from six communities.”
Volunteer firefighters from Peawanuk, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Attawapiskat, Moose Factory and Moosonee are training with the unit until June 27. The training started on June 22.
Grant said this gives everyone the opportunity to access training that would usually be costly and involve more travel normally.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said. “We were able to get it all together and get six communities on board to travel here and train together, and it’s coming to fruition, which is something I’m excited about.”
The MLFTU is one of three units in the province that can travel to offer training to firefighters in different communities.
It is 16 metres long and can easily be reset after each training scenario, allowing firefighters to repeat the steps needed to deal with the simulation and build some muscle memory, said Grant.
“Repetition is extremely important, especially when you’re talking about lives on the line and people who may not have the experience through call volume or training,” he said. “If you start to work on things like muscle memory, it becomes second nature.”
The unit arrived in Moosonee by train on Wednesday.
“The fact that the municipality and the reserves are working together is kind of historic,” said Grant. “I think this is kind of the first time that we’re seeing anything like this up here, and we’re working together.”
Grant said the MLFTU program has made it easier to access training for fire departments in remote communities.
“Our only option until a little while ago, was going to the fire college down in Gravenhurst and now there’s the regional training centres, but it costs about $1,000 just to leave our community to go down there, so that can get pretty expensive,” said Grant.
Funding for the transportation of the MLFTU was provided by the OFM with contributions from Mushkegowuk Council and Ontario Northland.
Grant said that the chance to have training in the community gives everyone the opportunity to improve their skills.
“All of my firefighters have full-time jobs and this is something they have to do on the side,” said Grant. “The need for that training is something that the Fire Marshal’s office recognized and that’s when they started to put out these mobile units.”
He said that having that support and training was a necessity, not only for the firefighters in Moosonee, but for other communities as well.
“Not only can I help my guys and my department and my community but maybe the region as a whole,” said Grant.
He said that the teams working together and sharing this experience is a great step to working together in the future as well.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, we’re all firefighters and we’re all here to do the same job, we’re all here to learn and have a good time doing it!”
