Instead of collecting dust, equipment that was shuttered by the Conception Bay South Fire Department has found a new home.
At its regular meeting of council on Feb. 20, C.B.S passed a motion to donate eight sets of Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and 16 aluminum cylinders to the St. Shott’s Volunteer Fire Department. It was passed by unanimous decision.
“Any time we find ourselves in the position to share resources with another organization, especially when those resources contribute to the safety of frontline first responders, it’s a win-win situation,” C.B.S. Mayor Terry French said in a news release Tuesday.
The apparatus became available after a tender was called last year for disposal of assets and when no bids were received, this made them available for donation to a smaller fire department.
St. Shott’s fire chief Albert Molloy reached out to C.B.S. seeking to secure the SCBA’s and his request was granted giving the equipment a new home.
“The Town of St. Shott’s is very pleased to accept these breathing apparatus units from the Town of Conception Bat South,’’ St. Shott’s Mayor Madonna Hewitt said in the news release.
“We are a small municipality, with limited resources, so every opportunity to enhance our firefighting capacity is well appreciated. We would encourage all municipalities to work together so perfectly good equipment is utilized to the maximum and the drain on provincial coffers, as well as our own, is reduced,’’ she added.
Hewitt said she will let her residents know of the goodwill gesture extended to them by the Conception Bay South Fire Department and C.B.S. council.
C.B.S. purchased new sets of SCBA’s in 2015 that increased the fire department’s capacity from 30 minutes to one hour increasing the safety levels for its first responders.
The growth of the community, now exceeding 26,000 residents, made the need for improvements paramount to the firefighting abilities for the town and ultimately the safety of its residents.
This echoes true in St. Shott’s as well, who now have a safer community with the addition of the eight units and 16 aluminum cylinders. In both cases, the purchase and the donation have made the work environment for employees and firefighters safer across the board.
