Firefighters volunteer for their community, we look to them when things go wrong. When the tones go off, they don’t hesitate to drop what they’re doing and be there, no matter the call.
On Thursday, May 21st, Annapolis Royal Firefighters were actively assisting with an ongoing incident, when they noticed heavy smoke from the Annapolis River.
Around 330PM, just before noticing the plume and notifying Valley Dispatch, crews received a 911 call for a fire in a heavily wooded area in the community of Moschelle and started mobilizing to the area.
Automatic mutual aid was requested, bringing in fire departments from Bridgetown, Lawrencetown, Digby & Bear River to assist with tankers, manpower and off-road vehicles.
Department of Natural Resources was also notified, bringing in fire crews with additional forestry hose, off-road vehicles and also dispatching a DNR helicopter to the scene.
Crews gained access to the fire from the west side, dropping porta-tanks and shuttling water back and forth along a logging road to supply crews on the frontlines.
Firefighters worked hard on the east side of the fire, using off-road vehicles to deploy close to 2 kilometres of hose to cut the fire off at a nearby ATV trail, while the helicopter continued to make water drops to contain the fire.
Shortly after supper, volunteer firefighters and DNR crews had the fire surrounded, continuing to work on hot spots in difficult terrain, which covered roughly 2 hectares.
During the ongoing suppression efforts, one firefighter had a medical event. DNR crews and volunteer firefighters from every department dropped what they were doing to bring medical supplies and perform lifesaving measures on one of their own.
The heroic efforts of the firefighters and personnel involved in this event is something you can’t describe, it’s something you just can’t put into words.
Each and every day, our volunteer firefighters leave their families to get on a fire truck, being proud to serve and protect our communities. We never take into consideration they might not come home.
Additional agencies also assisted with the Moschelle Wildfire, Nictaux Fire, standby at Bridgetown Station, Conservation, Annapolis District RCMP & Emergency Health Services.
Our thoughts and prayers remain with all the first responders involved in this incident, the Bridgetown Fire Department, family and friends.
Photos have been posted with permission from Annapolis Royal & Bridgetown Fire.
Adrian J.
