By Tyler Marr

‘Essential to community safety’: Ten new paid-on-call firefighters recognized at graduation

Oct 2, 2018 | 1:51 PM

When Dejan Gut came to Canada 10 years ago, he knew he wanted to find a way to give to back and help his new community and country.

In doing so, he made the decision to join a local fire department. Monday night, he was among a group of 10 paid-on-call (POC) volunteer staff presented with their Saskatchewan Firefighting Level 1 and Incident Command System 100 certificates.

“I get lots from this country and I have made a really good life here,” Gud told battlefordsNOW, noting he served in Serbia’s military. “[This is] something small so I can give back.”

Those recognized at the North Battleford Fire Hall Monday have worked tirelessly over the past 12 months to get to where they are today. Each has underwent upwards of 60 hours of training, split between 40 hours of theoretical and 20 hours of practical instruction. Dozens of additional training hours are put in throughout the week during duty nights.

While Gud admitted the studying and preparation was cumbersome, staying up some nights until 2 a.m. to cram before exams, he was proud to have achieved success.

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“I did something really good,” he said. “I have a goal to stay here for some time and hopefully stay in good health, so I can stay here until I am 60 years old.”

Fire Chief Trevor Brice called the POCs the “backbone” of the department and “essential to our full-time firefighters and essential to the safety of the community.”

“Without these people, we couldn’t run effectively,” he added.

With the new batch of recruits, the department now has a staff of 14 POCs to call upon, Brice said. The department has a goal of recruiting a few more to get to a full fleet of 20.

He commended those who stepped up to join the department, noting the massive commitment required, more so as many have young families and are required to be on call 24/7.

“It takes a special brand of person not to just come through the doors and do it but to stay here,” he said.

In October, the POCs will return to training for Level 2 certification, which will enable them to do more tasks at incidents. This will entail another 20 hours of theory and upwards of 50 hours of practical instruction. Brice said another intake of recruits will take place in January 2019.

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr

by Tyler Marr

‘Essential to community safety’: Ten new paid-on-call firefighters recognized at graduation

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