A half-dozen firefighters from the region — including three from Morden — headed to northern Manitoba last week to help battle forest fires.
The Morden trio, along with the department’s water tanker, were joined by two firefighters from Plum Coulee and one from St. Jean.
Morden fire chief Andy Thiessen said the deployment reflects the dedication of fire department volunteers, who are always prepared to step up.
“These guys are all taking time away from work, so they’re maybe using holiday time to go up and do this, and the employers are generous enough,” said Thiessen. “It’s pretty sweet when there’s a need like this that everybody bands together, and everybody gives a little bit to help out.
“There’s been some multiple deployments over the last two or three weeks, so quite a few other departments have sent guys,” he added. “We went up with our tanker because it can carry a lot of water, and it can also pump and drive at the same time. A lot of other trucks can’t do that, so it’s a good asset for them.”
Local fire departments such as Morden and Winkler are among nine that belong to the Pembina Triangle Mutual Aid District (PTMAD), which receives requests from the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) to assist with structural fire protection in affected communities. Fires in more remote areas are coordinated separately through the Manitoba Wildfire Service.
PTMAD departments determine what equipment and personnel can be spared, while still ensuring they can respond to 911 calls in their own communities — a process known as “the mutual aid shuffle.”
Winkler remains on standby and has not yet been asked to assist, although it did provide support a few weeks ago for a fire near Woodridge and Badger.
“It happens maybe every five or six years, perhaps,” said Winkler fire chief Richard Paetzold. “We went to Ashern somewhere around 2018 or 2019 when they had wildfires.
“Manitoba is well-co-ordinated in this aspect through the Office of the Fire Commissioner that, at the drop of a hat, you can have a co-ordinated effort going anywhere in the province,” he said. “The co-ordination on our part is to have people freed up to go and the apparatus to go.
“We’re kind of at the farthest corner of the province from the current situation … but they’ve been kind of moving from the north to the south … even Carman sent a crew up as well.”
The local firefighters deployed last week would likely be playing support roles, Thiessen said, adding he expected the initial crew to be there for about a week.
“If things are still in rough shape, we’ll maybe send another three or four guys up … we’ll leave the truck up there for a while,” he said, noting they can manage without the tanker for now due to favourable local conditions and mutual aid support from Winkler and Darlingford.
Thiessen expressed concern for those on the front lines up north.
“I can only imagine what it’s been like, although I was involved a bit years ago where we were right on the front line. It’s pretty horrific,” he said. “And communication up there is not as good as you would like.”
