Yesterday I popped into the Enfield Volunteer Fire Department in East Hants.
I always enjoy chatting and learning about the different equipment and services that fire stations across the province and Maritimes have to offer.
Every station is unique and you can always take something away from visiting.
The Enfield Fire Department was established to protect the community of Enfield back in 1957, it consists of four fire apparatus to serve their fire district and surrounding communities.
While the station is mostly volunteer they are considered a composite fire department; which means their membership is comprised of paid and volunteer firefighters.
Two career members are staffed Monday to Friday, 7 AM-4 PM. This helps provide adequate staffing during daytime week hours when many volunteers are unable to leave due to work.
The station runs approximately 350-360 fire calls a year with roughly 45 firefighters on the roster.
It was quite interesting to learn that Enfield offers a co-op placement for students at the station. Providing an in-depth experience of what it’s like to be a firefighter and hands on material during training sessions.
Learning many skills and knowledge when joining the fire service isn’t something you can get everywhere. Being a part of an organization that offers unique opportunities is something worth noting, especially when you’re providing it to students who are looking to choose a career.
Over the years Highway 102 has been a cause for concern with many motor vehicle collisions on such a busy stretch of highway.
The Enfield Volunteer Fire Department is fully equipped with an array of extrication equipment and personnel for when such an incident arises, working along side their mutual aid partners.
It was neat to check out some of the different gear used compared to what we have here in Kings.
“The Enfield Auto Ex Team.”
The Enfield Volunteer Fire Department developed an auto extrication team in 1989 and began competing in 1998. Since then challenges and competitions have been across Canada and Worldwide.
This team trains on Thursday’s and Saturday’s focused specifically on vehicle extrication.
Back in 2022, twenty of the top teams across the world were invited to Germany to compete with Enfield being one of them. Fourteen different countries around the globe were on-site to compete.
Challenges consist specifically of vehicle extrication, with different style scenarios and live patients. The three style scenarios that teams competed in were a rapid pit, limited pit and unlimited pit.
The rapid pit scenario is one in which you have 10 minutes to get a patient out of a vehicle.
The limited pit is a scenario which only consists of hand tools, high lift jacks, reciprocating saws, drills etc. No heavy hydraulics.
The unlimited pit is a scenario where you have your heavy hydraulics such as the jaws of life to use while performing the scenario.
The Enfield Auto Ex placed 5th overall in Germany back in 2022. They came in 8th place in Incident Command and 5th place in Technical. They also received 4th place in Medical. The first-place team won 50,000 euros towards new equipment.
These experiences are crucial to keeping our communities safe while learning new skills and bringing back techniques from different fire departments across the world.
It was quite neat to learn and drop in along my travels. Special thanks to firefighter Jeff for the thorough tour and for welcoming me into the hall!
Adrian J.
