Junior program keeping fire department strong

A rural fire department is building up its membership by getting youth involved.

Scotsburn Fire Chief Alan Fraser said four years ago he took notice of junior firefighters participating in a funeral reception in a South Shore community.

“After the funeral was over, the juniors were all dressed in their shirts and set up tables, decorated everything up and served food, and after seeing that I was convinced Scotsburn was ready for the junior program,” he said.

Fraser said most junior programs start when a member turns 16 years old, but he thought it would work better if the members were as young as 13.

Other departments in the county such as Thorburn, Alma and West River have hosted junior programs as well.

Fraser said the idea couldn’t have come at a better time since a recent turnover in the department saw it left with just five members. Now, it’s 28 members strong, with a new fire truck and juniors waiting in the wings.

The junior members attend all the same fire schools and training as seniors members do, as well as having a say as meetings. They carry pagers and arrive at calls like the senior members, but are restricted in what they can do at a scene.

“They won’t go in the line of fire,” said Fraser. “They can run hoses to the fire, change bottles, make sure the guys coming out of the house have what they need. They can get them water or anything else they need from the trucks.”

Brody Murray and Britney van Veen are two of Scotsburn’s oldest juniors. In fact, van Veen recently attained senior status, while Murray is only a short time away from turning the legal age of 19.

Murray said he was unsure if he wanted to join the department at first, but after he became comfortable with the training, his interest grew.

As for van Veen, she said because juniors are included in the same training as the senior members, they feel as though they are part of the fire department family from the beginning.

“I started coming here because my dad joined four years ago. He would take me and then other people. We do county training, training at the hall,” said van Veen.

Murray jokingly calls van Veen the “grandma” of the juniors because she has turned 19 and is considered a senior member, but Fraser sees a bright future for Murray as well.

He said the department recently purchased a new fire truck that the juniors helped design so they will have something to be proud of when they’re leading the fire department 20 years from now. “When Brody is chief,” said Fraser.

The junior program is continuing to attract members, he said, and instead of the department scouting youth to join, young people are coming to the department looking for application forms.

“I think the junior program is something we should have started a long time ago,” he said. “The energy is unbelievable. It keeps us going.”

Murray and van Veen said the program has also helped them decide on career goals. Although neither is planning to make a career out of firefighting, both are in university working toward a bright future.

“It’s an open-the-door type of thing,” said van Veen.

“Firefighting itself I enjoy, but it is not a career thing, but I like the medical part. I didn’t think about medicine until I joined here and I got my first responders. Now I take nursing in university.”