Mapleton firefighters experienced a historically active stretch of time in the performance of their duties this past week.
The department was called out to fires five times within a 24-hour period, culminating in a major blaze that destroyed the township’s public works shed on Sideroad 16 near Drayton.
The hectic stretch began at 10pm on Nov. 28, when Mapleton firefighters were called to a house fire on Concession 9 of Arthur Township, along with Arthur firefighters. At 2:30 am on Nov. 29, firefighters responded to a call on the other side of the township, to deal with a truck burning beside a garage in Glen Allan. Just 90 minutes after returning from the Glen Allan blaze, the brigade headed to Rothsay to put out a fire in a corn dryer.
With all three incidents cleared before 7am, local firefighters headed to their day jobs, which many would have been just finishing when they were called out to the shop fire at around 6pm that evening. Before they could get that blaze under control, they had to respond to a house fire in Drayton.
“We don’t get that many major fires in a year,” commented Fire Chief Rick Richardson on Monday morning, noting the busy weekend also included a call to a traffic accident on Wellington Road 109. “It’s just something that happens,” he added of the rash of fires in such a brief period.
Fortunately, such days are far from typical for volunteer fire brigades in rural communities. Such a pace on an ongoing basis would challenge the manpower and resources of a contingent of full-time firefighters. However, it’s a good illustration of why it’s important to expend the resources to properly equip and train local firefighters. They need to be available on a moment’s notice, to provide a public service for as long as necessary – occasionally, as this past week, with barely time to get their boots off between incidents.
Through all five incidents, the only injury sustained was by a firefighter who slipped on the ice and sprained his ankle at the shop fire. That local firefighters were able to transition safely in such short order to incidents of varying natures is a further indication of a smooth running organization.
Though the works shop was eventually lost to a flare-up caused by unforeseeable circumstances in the form of powerful early-morning winds, the quick action of firefighters saved the township literally millions of dollars in potential replacement of equipment. As the majority of the volunteer brigade worked to control the fire, four firefighters who work with township and county roads departments moved the equipment out of harm’s way.
“The exceptional work of the Mapleton Fire Department and our public works staff saved all of our snow plowing trucks and our graders. The loss of that equipment at this time of year would have been a massive blow to winter operations,” stated public works director Larry Lynch in the aftermath of the fire, which he notes, “could have been devastating.”
Hopefully, it will be a long time before local fighters face a challenge on the scale of this past week’s activity. However, it’s clear from the results they are up to the task.
Patrick Raftis
