MAPLETON – Township council has approved a plan to apply for $7,100 in provincial funding to assist with training firefighters in a pandemic environment.
During the March 23 meeting, Fire Chief Rick Richardson reported the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office March 11 announcement of $5 million in funding for municipal fire services.
The funding aims to assist in addressing challenges associated with training and virtual inspections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Richardson explained Mapleton Fire Rescue has already completed the application for funding in order to meet a March 19 deadline.
“With these funds, the local fire department would like to purchase laptop computers to be used at both stations to complete online and virtual training,” Richardson stated in his report.
“Many courses during the past year have been blended with online and practical skills combined to reach certification levels required to maintain the level of service that we have committed to providing.
“By doing in-house training in groups of six, we can continue to complete this task, while maintaining social distancing.”
Richardson told council some of the funds would also be used to purchase training programs.
“We thought that would be beneficial to get us through our certification process,” he stated.
