The Kindersley Fire Department will now be able to add important and necessary training equipment to their repertoire, after raising over $48,000 through a highly successful sponsored raffle.

The volunteer fire fighters started selling tickets in January and anticipated selling the 1200 tickets straight up until the draw date on May 3. However, it only took six weeks for the first responders to clear their ticket books, raising close to $50,000.

Captain Mitch Hope said they will be looking to add not only fitness equipment to their gym facility, but they will also be incorporating new training equipment as well.

“Right now we have an old house that we use as a smoke house, a sea-can that we use for live burns and then just training grounds, or compound that we use to extricate vehicles, so it will be nice to get some other things added as well to help us train,” said Captain Hope.

The department has not settled on anything in particular as of yet, Captain Hope said it will be determined after they assess how much space will be available at the new fire hall location on Railway Avenue.

Laughs ensued among the firefighters present when asked, what else does the fire department need.

“There are always things that would be beneficial for us,” said Captain Hope. He continued explaining that it is not just the equipment for training that is a necessity, other improvements that directly affect the health and safety of the volunteer firefighters is among the top of their wish-list.

“Firefighters are 103 per cent more likely to get diagnosed with certain types of cancer due to the carcinogens and other things that we are exposed to. So, something that fire departments all around the world are doing is having two sets of bunker gear, one goes directly into decontamination after it is used and there is still another clean one available to use if needed,” explained Captain Hope.

The bunker gear he said can cost upwards of $4000 each, “and when you have 30 or more guys, that’s a quick $100,000, so we just need to see what we have and what we need and do what we can”.

A new tanker truck was recently provided to the department through the RM of Kindersley, which will help significantly to keep the water supply steady when fighting fires.

“The new tanker truck will help out a lot and we are hoping in the next five years, through the Town of Kindersley, to get a ladder truck,” said Hope, “we have four-story buildings here in Kindersley and the ladder truck is important to have in order to deal with those situations the best we can”.

As the new fire hall is under construction, Captain Mitch Hope along with Fire Chief, Ron Hope, and Kindersley Mayor, Rod Perkins, said they hope it will attract new volunteers to the department.

Captain Hope stated they are always looking for new members and currently have room for upwards of 10 new volunteers, however, it may not be a lack of interest that is keeping the department at their current roster.

“We find that there is an interest but it’s not supported by their employers, therefore, they aren’t able to move forward with it,”said Mitch.

Fire Chief Ron Hope, shared that even if people are only able to help with certain calls or do certain things, they are still needed and wanted and are encouraged to inquire about the process.

Captain Hope said he wanted to give an extra special thank you to their sponsors who provided the four impressive prize packages and Gary Hamilton and the Kindersley Community Services Group, who took care of numerous tasks and organized the raffle from behind the scenes.