Support unit keeps firefighters fueled
Q: For 30 plus years, a group of former firefighters and other like-minded volunteers operated a support unit that assisted police and fire services at major incidents throughout the 13 municipalities in the Niagara region. As of late 2012 the organization seems to have vanished. Who now provides support and assistance to firefighters and emergency responders in the Niagara Region?
A: A team of decided volunteers with a passion for firefight-ing have been supporting Lincoln fi refighters at lengthy calls for almost a year.
The eight- member Lincoln Rehab was called out six times in 2015 for firefighters responding to emergency calls.
“If they’re out for six hours l ong, we’re there f or f i ve of them,” said member John Bigger, a former district chief with 42 years of firefighting experience.
Launched in February after four months of planning, the volunteer unit is the only one of its kind currently operating in Niagara.
Equipped with a converted 1998 Freightliner FL60 ambulance from Virginia, members bring hot coffee and granola bars to f i refighters stuck at large structure fi res or accident scenes.
Most aid i s requested in the winter, but the unit is also equipped for summer response, with cold water, ice chairs and cooling fans like those for football players.
“At three o’clock in the morning, you’re standing around a cold, wet building and you can grab a hot drink,” Bigger said.
Five of the eight volunteers are former firefighters.
“We’ve all been on the receiving end. We know what it’s all about,” said John Hermans, a former firefighter with 26 years of experience.
The group monitor calls and know pretty quickly, based on experience, if they’re likely going to be called out to assist.
When they are requested, some members are alerted with pagers and other are called. Bigger said they phone Tim Hortons to get 100 cup carafe ready and away they go, without lights and sirens. They set up a table and in inclement weather may put up a tent.
Member Ivan Good, a former district chief with 33 years of firefighting, said prior to the Lincoln Rehab, the fire department would have to send a firefighter from the scene in a vehicle to get drinks or food.
“There’s a need for a warm drink on a cold night. This way the firefighters don’t have to concentrate on that.”
The group has responded beyond the Lincoln borders when its department was called out to assist Grimsby and West Lincoln.
Lincoln Deputy Chief Bill Blake said firefighters can be at large scenes for three to eight hours and having a unit keeps them in good health.
Blake said the former Niagara Regional Emergency Service Support Unit responded all over the region to major events and when the unit fell apart, it left a gap.
The Lincoln department was doing the best i t could, but sending a person from a scene to get water or food takes a person and equipment out of service, he said.
The department teamed up with some members of t he former unit and people from the community to create its own funded unit.
Most recently, they were at a garage fire that spread to a house on Spring Creek Road where firefighters were on scene for more than seven hours.
“It’s an incredible service the fellas provide,” Blake said.
If other fire departments in Niagara are interested in creating their own units, Blake wouldn’t be surprised. “It’s a no brainer.”
Blake said the cost of running the unit, beyond buying the truck and the turnout gear for the volunteers, is minimal. The town pays for the refreshments and fuel and the volunteers don’t get paid.
For members like Hermans, having firefighters coming up and saying thank you is reward enough.
“We’re all family. We work together and we play together.”