Wasauksing First Nation has a new Fire Chief and he’s looking to expand the department’s reach.
Tyler Olmstead says the position oversees all fire service operations on all of Parry Island.
Olmstead says hopefully, in the coming weeks, the department will be getting some new equipment including a new truck and with that comes the need for more recruits.
“Currently our numbers are a little bit low. We’d like to see our recruitment level go up, maybe 10 to 15 potential applicants turning into recruits. Right at this moment, our levels of service consist of fire, basic rescue and awareness-level water rescue. We’re going to be expanding that into medical and more technical water-based rescue as we are on the island,” he says.
Olmstead says anyone interested in signing up can expect to be going through some rigorous training over the next couple of months. He says the hope is he’ll be able to get the new recruits through enough training for them to be able to partake in live-fire training in October with the Live Burn simulator, which he says will be open to all departments in the West Parry Sound District.
“We’re also looking at getting into a new station in the new year here and there’s lots of growth going on within the department itself so lots of opportunity for anyone that wants to come in, join and give a little hand to the small Parry Island community of Wasauksing,” he says.
Omstead says the current station is located in the Parry Island complex, where the school, daycare, band administration office and Health Center are currently located. He says the search for a new spot is still underway, but ideally, they are looking to locate up near the cemetery, as you come off Wasauksing Road just onto the island over the Swing bridge.
Olmstead is also looking to build a training center, to be able to do live fire evolutions and different training evolutions right at station specifically, which he says will be open to all West Parry Sound Firefighters as well.
“Currently our membership is 7 members. We would love to see that go up to around 20 if we can, but I would be happy with 15. More members equals more safety, less workload on the current people that are on the roster, evens out the workload a little bit and boosts camaraderie among the team,” he says, adding that’s always a good thing in a fire hall. he says.
As for what it takes to join, Olmstead says for regular service firefighters, anyone 18 up to 65 is encouraged to apply. He says there’s also a junior program in the works that is going to be for ages 15 to 17, introducing them to the fire service, taking part in some training, maybe see some evolutions, get some hands-on experience and hopefully evolve into a full-fledged firefighter with Wasauksing.
“To be a firefighter you need no experience whatsoever. Obviously previous experience is definitely an asset, a G2 or G class driver’s license is the basic minimum and a DZ would be preferred,” he says.
Olmstead says in terms of living on Wasauksing or being a band member, that’s not required. He says as long as you’re within a 10-minute drive to the swing bridge, that’s good enough for him. Anyone who lives in that 10-minute area, which would be up to about Isabella St., all the way across to the highway, is encouraged to apply.
“But I’ll also take applications from everyone and see where we’re at. If you work close, I’m definitely interested. If you live close, I’m really interested. And daytime availability is huge, so if anyone has alternating shifts or anything like that, it’s definitely something I would love to entertain and I’m open to chat with anyone,” he says.
Olmstead says if anyone has any questions, they can get ahold of him by his email [email protected]