It was a chance to learn what firefighters do, and Puslinch Mayor Dennis Lever encouraged others to take part in the annual Ontario Fire Chiefs Conference.
On May 16, Lever told his councillors, “It was an excellent conference and I would highly recommend it.”
Lever was particularly impressed with the quality of the speakers. He said he sat with the chief, deputy chief and another of the township’s firefighters on both days of the conference.
Lever was particularly impressed with the speaker on risk management.
“I think he had everyone’s attention.”
As well, Lever spoke on the presentation of the fire chief from Slave Lake.
“It’s hard to imagine what he would have gone through, bringing heavy equipment into town to create a fire break.”
He added another seminar of interest was Reading Smoke, which he found very interesting. While Lever said the skill might be a little more natural for township firefighters, Puslinch Fire Chief Bob Gordon said reading smoke is something that requires study.
He said there are types of fires that the Puslinch department is typically not involved in. Gordon said steam or heavy black smoke can indicate something entirely different than normal. Lever added the councillor fire training session was quite good.
“They went through a number of demonstrations from car extractions to fires. But we were also in full gear as we went into one of their fire training facilities, which was filled with smoke. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.”
The job was to locate victims on the second floor of the building, Lever said.
“But when I got up there and had to back down the staircase, I wished I’d counted the number of steps on the way up.”
He said it was bit unusual backing down the steps and trying to keep track of the person in front while carrying the victim as well – the victim being the dummy of a child.
Lever said he was impressed with the entire conference “and I really do think this is something the rest of our council should participate in.”
Lever is contemplating attending the conference next year, but will review the agenda in advance. He noted some of the technical sessions Gordon attended were geared specifically towards rural areas.
Gordon added there is now a member of the board from Wellington County – Minto fire chief Chris Harrow.
