Funds were used to help purchase training materials for firefighters.
GORHAM TOWNSHIP – When you are a volunteer fire department, the costs for updating training books can be similar to what a student goes through at college or university.
For East Gorham Fire & Rescue, they got some help to offset those costs.
The department officially received a donation of $5,000 from Enbridge Gas on Wednesday, which has been used to purchase educational materials that will help to train firefighters in life-saving techniques.
“The donation couldn’t have come at a better time for us, especially with the Office of the Fire Marshall and the National Fire Protection Association all updating their standards,” said Michael Heringer, chief of East Gorham Fire & Rescue.
“This is a great relief for us, especially when everyone here is a volunteer. We’re grateful for any kind of tools and resources that we can give them.”
Heringer noted that the smaller thinner textbooks that are used for training run anywhere from $130 to $140, with larger textbooks costing up to $500.
“I’ve been a volunteer firefighter for nine years and in that time, we’ve already had three different updates with these training books,” Heringer said.
“It’s something that’s ever-evolving and something that you can always learn from. You are always looking to upgrade your skills and everyone here has different ways of doing that.”
Wednesday’s donation is one of 50 being done by Enbridge Gas this year, which will see $250,000 go to fire departments around the province.
“In these smaller communities our first responders have to pay to get the training done and the books that they need to maintain the standards that are needed for their jobs,” said Joseph Beg, stations supervisor for the Northwest region at Enbridge Gas.
“We’re very happy to donate some money to make sure that they are all up to date with that stuff. Everyone’s usually pretty ecstatic when that donation comes in as it’s not as necessary to do all of the car washes and other events that they would have to do to help pay for things like that.”