Barriere firefighters got a little extra training in December and January after the Huisman family decided to donate their house on Dunn Lake Road to the department.
“They were actually condemning the house and put a modular on top so they either could just tear it down or let us use it for some training exercises. We were quite interested in doing that for training. We worked in the house for about a month and a half, we were only going to use it quite a few times,” said Fire Chief Ashley Wohlgemuth. “It’s not an opportunity that comes up very often so we wanted to make sure to take advantage of any training we could.”
Wohlgemuth said the training exercises they did vary between senior firefighters and the new ones. For the new firefighters, they learned where the truck(s) go, how to deploy hoses and setting up a scene. On the other hand, the senior firefighters learned how to run a scene and how to work with different resources in the best possible ways.
“It was a great experience because it’s not very often you get to fully set up a scene. Usually, you go when there is already a house fire and you just go with it. It let us show different techniques on how to show how to minimize the damage to the home.”
With the province issued the Structure Firefighters Competency and Training Playbook, Wohlgemuth said there are certain training minimums departments need to reach which are detailed in the playbook.
“Any extra training we can get right now is really crucial.”
She added that the extra training also helps to make sure everyone is certified properly.
As for the house, it was burnt down. Everything that remained has been cleaned up to make room for the Huisman’s new home.
Explaining how the house became donated to the fire department, the Fire Chief said the family was at the hardware store, where a member of the fire department also works. The people at the store gave the family the means to get in touch with Wohlgemuth and they started messaging back and forth from there. The rest is history.
Wohlgemuth said she was also surprised that other than a few people slowing down to take a look, the exercises never gained a lot of attention.
“We also did it at nighttime sometimes so even from across the river and highway you would be able to see it and I was surprised we didn’t get any calls. We did let our dispatch know ahead of time what time we were burning so they were aware of any calls but they didn’t get any.”
They also notified the public on their Facebook page.
The Barriere Fire Department is still recruiting and has a couple of spots left. Wohlgemuth encourages anyone to come to practices on Thursday nights at the fire hall at 7 p.m.
“There’s a job for everyone.”
