Touched by pizza shop owner’s heroism, Breton volunteer fire crew pays it forward

Volunteer firefighters are known for their big hearts — after all, they are giving up their spare time in case they need to save properties from fire — but a crew in the village of Breton southwest of Edmonton have gone above and beyond.

Members of the Drayton Valley/ Brazeau County Fire Station 2 on Monday will make a 200-kilometre round trip to Edmonton to deliver pizzas to students at Abbott School in the Beverly neighbourhood.

And they are challenging other volunteer firefighters — and professional firefighters — to do the same.

Lt. Cliff Swan said the idea came about when his fire team was chatting about how an Edmonton pizza shop owner helped save lives after an apartment building fire on Jasper Avenue early last year.

Swan’s team attempted to contact the pizza shop owner to buy a stack of pizzas to donate to a school, however the shop is now closed.

But, instead of giving up and

One meal isn’t much but if we can help feed kids and another fire department does the same, then this could be a great

shelving the plan, they reached out to another pizza store and moved ahead with the donation.

On Monday, the fire team plans to deliver about $400 worth of pizzas from Pizza 73 and about $100 worth of milk to the lunch program at the 12045 34 St. Edmonton school.

They also support a lunch program in the village of Breton, home to around 570 residents.

“The main thing was trying to help out the individual who helped save those people on Jasper Avenue but then it turned into helping feed children,” said Swan.

“Kids have to eat and this is just a little thing we can do.

“One meal isn’t much but if we can help feed kids and another fire department does the same, then this could be a great challenge.”