HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-07-29, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2010.Fire concerns come to ACW councilThe concerns of residents ofAshfield-Colborne-Wawanosh’s(ACW) portion of Auburn were
represented by Jacqui Laporte
during a recent ACW meeting.
Laporte, who spearheaded a group
of residents from the Central Huron
section of Auburn and Northern
Hullet who wished to be covered by
Blyth’s fire hall, spoke to ACW
councillors regarding fire coverage.
Laporte pulled no punches during
the meeting, flat out saying that the
group wanted the same treatment
that northern Central Huron received
- coverage from the Blyth fire hall.
“We are here today because we
would like to pressure [ACW
council] to have [Blyth’s fire hall]
cover ACW’s part of Auburn,” she
said.
The group wasn’t as concerned
with the firefighting part of fire
coverage, as they were with Medical
First Response, a service that Blyth’s
fire department provided before it
amalgamated with North Huron and
was dropped as a provider by ACW
due to prohibitive cost.
“Given the rural and agricultural
nature of our area, we think that
medical first response is important,”
Laporte stated. “It will save lives.”
Auburn ACW residents Paul
Johnston and Christine Atkinson
said that they believed that Blyth
should be kept as the primary
department for coverage, and cited
their own experience.
In a later interview, Paul Johnston
explained that his wife may have
been seriously injured or worse had
Blyth not been the responding fire
department.
“It happened two winters ago,
Christine had [contracted] food
poisoning,” he said. “She was
vomiting and her throat closed and
then she passed out.”
Johnston stated that he called 911
and both Blyth firefighters and the
ambulance were dispatched.
“[Christine] said that they could
not have gotten there faster if they
had beamed over,” he said adding
that the ambulance didn’t arrive untilfive minutes after the Blyth firedepartment had arrived.By the time the ambulance hadarrived, Blyth firefighters hadalready administered oxygen and
stabilized Atkinson.
Johnston stated that there were
many issues raised, but felt the most
important was the response time due
to his own experiences.
“If we had to wait that extra five
minutes for the ambulance, or the
extra two minutes for Central Huron
to call Blyth to come in, it could
have lead to injury, or worse,”
Johnston said.
Johnston also stated that he was
bothered by council’s claims that
their decision was about safety.
“I was deeply disturbed by council
saying that safety is first - if safety is
first, the cost wouldn’t’ve mattered,
it’s all about the money,” he
suggested.
The potential for danger to the
firefighters is also something that
Johnston was concerned about.
“The volunteers do this on their
own and without pay,” he said. “I
would hate to see one of them
injured because a station is rushing
to get somewhere instead of calling
in aid.”
Johnston, who frequently travelled
the roads between ACW, Goderich
and Central Huron for his former job
in Goderich at Volvo, stated that, in
his experience in the winter, roads
are often not cleared by 5 a.m., and
Base Line, the most direct route
from the Clinton fire hall to Auburn,
could be extremely treacherous,
causing not only delays in response
time, but also risking the lives of the
firefighters.
Councillors from ACW, and fire
chief Steve Cook from Central
Huron explained that, with any
medical emergency or structure fire,
Blyth fire hall would be called in
immediately under mutual aid - the
crux of ACW’s fire coverage.
“We put people’s safety first,”
Councillor Barry Millian stated. “We
entered into discussions with all
three fire chiefs [from Lucknow,
North Huron and Central Huron] and
we were assured that there would beno reduction in the level ofprotection because of mutual aid.”Laporte’s group had manyconcerns regarding the coverage thatits members would receive, most
centred around the response time of
ambulances and fire trucks.
Several members of the group
were concerned that the lack of
Medical First Response with the
Central Huron fire department could
cause serious problems, given that,
with an average response time of
nearly twenty minutes for
ambulances, the firefighters’training
could mean life or death for Auburn
residents.
Other members stated that,
regardless of the road conditions,Blyth would always be more ableand quicker to respond, so the callshould go to Blyth first, and not haveto be routed through mutual aidthrough Central Huron’s fire
department. It was also questioned
whether inclement weather could
provide a serious problem for fire
vehicles coming from fire calls in
Clinton or Lucknow.
Laporte explained that Central
Huron had the same problem ACW
did with the cost of the coverage,
but, when broken down, it didn’t
seem so outrageous.
“North Huron is now breaking
down costs and providing reports,”
If you feel that you are called to
the mission field or have been
contemplating this idea, the Huron
Chapel Evangelical Missionary
Church is offering opportunities in
El Salvador upcoming in 2011.
If you are interested in any of the
following dates, please speak with
Ed or Brenda Stein by calling 519-
357-2047 or e-mail at eandbstein @
gmail.com: January 22 to 30, men’s
team; January 29 to February 6,
men’s team; February 5 to 13, men’s
and ladies team.
Please note that plans are tentaive
and flexible at this point depending
on the number of people
interested.
On Saturday, August 14 is an all-
you-can-eat barbecue dinner to raise
funds for El Salvador missions.
Tickets are $20 each and children
aged seven to 11 are $10 and
children six and under are free.
There will be free wagon rides to
the Elk Paddock as well. There will
also be an open house for the El
Salvador model home that is on the
church property from 12 p.m. to
4:30 p.m.
For our active youth, on August
13, the Huron Chapel Evangelical
Missionary Church is hosting its
own “Amazing Race”. The youth
leave the church at 6:30 p.m. Sign up
at the church for teams of four. The
events are being held all around
Clinton. There are still many fun
activities for our youngsters, so get
into some team spirit and give it a
try.
Harvey Snell celebrated his 70th
birthday at an open house June 27 at
the Auburn Hall. Harvey would like
to thank all his friends and
neighbours who attended, and made
the day a very happy and memorable
occasion.
Have a great week everyone!
NEWS
FROM AUBURN
COMMUNITY
CORRESPONDENT
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AUBURN
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Contact Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
519-523-4792
or email:
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By Kerri
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hopturn@
hotmail.com
PEOPLE AROUND
AUBURN
By Denny ScottThe Citizen
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