North Queens firefighters in a training exercise. (North Queens Fire Association Facebook page)

The North Queens Fire Association in Caledonia will now be notified of more 911 calls in their community.

“As of right now, if you call 911 and you say you want the fire department to respond, there will be no question. The fire department will be paged out,” Chris Wolfe, chief of the North Queens department, told QCCR on Monday.

Last Monday, about 100 residents, firefighters and other first responders from as far away as Yarmouth met in Caledonia to air their concerns about Nova Scotia’s emergency communications system.

Rural fire departments like North Queens said they weren’t being paged about some medical emergencies in their community, even when residents specifically asked for their help.

Volunteer fire departments can sign up to be a medical first responder agency and respond to various medical emergencies, depending on their level of training. That is vital in rural areas like Caledonia where the nearest ambulance depot is about an hour away.

The 18 trained first responders in North Queens can attend almost any kind of call for help. 

After a couple of high-profile incidents in the community left people waiting for an hour or more for medical help, Wolfe organized the public meeting with help from Queens MLA Kim Masland. She invited officials from Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness, Emergency Health Services and Emergency Medical Care, the company that operates the province’s ambulance and 911 services.

“Our local MLA Kim Masland’s helped greatly with it,” Wolfe said. “The public showed support that night. It’s just a bunch of various things that’s come together to make people more aware of what’s going on and there is an urgent need for something to change there. I couldn’t be more happy with the way it’s panned out.”

Wolfe is also meeting with EHS officials on Tuesday in Halifax to discuss a potential pilot project with the North Queens department that could be used across the province.

“We’re going to sit down and discuss some possibilities. There will probably be a new protocol put in place. It will start with our department and it will trickle down to different MFR agencies around the province.”

Wolfe said he believes hearing from the public pushed provincial officials to act.

“Oh definitely. I think they realize we’re not going to let it lay to rest and it’s something that needs to be addressed and fixed and they’re on board and they’re going to help us get there.”

Wolfe said he will likely post an update on the department’s Facebook page Tuesday evening after the meeting in Halifax.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Chris Wolfe, chief of the North Queens Fire Association, speaks at a public meeting on Monday evening. (Rick Conrad)

When Mya Uhlman’s father needed medical help last August, her mother called 911 and expected her local fire department to respond.

They were still waiting 20 minutes later, so Uhlman’s mother called again. The 911 dispatcher told her the North Queens Fire Department was on its way. Uhlman’s parents live less than 10 minutes from the fire hall in West Caledonia.

“And they never, ever showed up,” Uhlman told QCCR. “She ended up calling a relative that lived close by to be with her because she was by herself.  … So when I inquired about it, I was told (North Queens) were never paged.

“The ambulance did arrive eventually. It was around 40 minutes before the ambulance did arrive. My father is OK, but it was serious at the time. 

“When my mother explicity asked for the North Queens Fire Department, they should have automatically been dispatched with no questions asked.”

Uhlman’s story and others were why Chief Chris Wolfe called a public meeting at the North Queens fire hall in Caledonia on Monday night.

About 100 residents, firefighters and other first responders from as far away as Yarmouth met to air their concerns about their local fire departments not being called to medical emergencies.

Chief Wolfe sounded the alarm on Facebook in February after another resident called 911 and the dispatcher didn’t notify Wolfe’s department. Instead, that person was still waiting for an ambulance when Wolfe’s deputy chief found out about it and had 911 page the fire department.

Volunteer firefighters around Nova Scotia take medical first responder training. The type of call they can respond to depends on the level their department signs up for. North Queens has 18 people trained to respond to almost any level of medical call.

Wolfe said that 111 of 198 of their calls last year were medical emergencies.

“My mandate is not to give up until we find a solution to this problem of not being paged for certain calls within our communities, because North Queens residents depend on us.”

He contacted Queens MLA Kim Masland to help organize the meeting with officials from the Department of Health and Wellness, Emergency Health Services, and Emergency Medical Care, which has the contract to operate ambulance and 911 service in Nova Scotia.

Masland, who is also the minister of emergency management, told those at the meeting to be frank with their concerns. And she also told people to continue to contact her and other MLAs. 

“I want to make sure that we land where we need to land because what has been happening is not acceptable.”

Representatives from EHS and Emergency Medical Care explained how the system works and the challenges in deploying the right resources in a timely way.

But people like Mya Uhlman wanted to know why their local fire departments wouldn’t be told about a call, especially if the person in distress requested it. A first responder with North Queens also demanded to know why dispatchers would deny that request.

Before officials could answer his question, first responders from the Liverpool, Pubnico and Woods Harbour fire departments also spoke up and said the same thing is happening in their areas.

Jeff Fraser, senior executive director of the emergency health services branch with Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness, said dispatchers have to follow certain models.

“I’m not so sure we should be denying that. I actually didn’t realize that was happening in that manner.”

Gordon Peckham, who is the vice-president of operations with EMC, said he didn’t know why that’s happening, but that it shouldn’t.

After the meeting, Uhlman said she hopes officials change how and when they notify local fire departments.

“In a way it made me feel a little better to know it wasn’t only us. But at the same time, it really made me feel awful  that this is happening in so many places and so many particularly rural community members are not getting the services they need in a timely fashion.”

Masland said she believes some progress was made at the meeting.

“There were things that were said here tonight that I could see they were raising the eyebrows of people here from EHS. And I think it’s important whenever you have communication that’s when you can start to resolve issues, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Chief Wolfe told QCCR that provincial officials promised to work on some of the issues raised and return in six to eight weeks for another public meeting. 

“The community did well supporting us, showing up. They voiced their concerns. Most of the concerns voiced we were aware of. I’m hoping that EMC will take it seriously and we’ll get things resolved.

“You could see the reactions with some of the public talking there that there were things going on that they weren’t even aware of. And I believe that within the next day or two, they’ll be taking those things into consideration and addressing them right away.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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One of the trucks from the Greenfield and District Volunteer Fire Department that went off the road on Sunday en route to fighting a fire near White Point. (Greenfield and District Volunteer Fire Department Facebook page)

The Greenfield and District Volunteer Fire Department may have lost two trucks on Sunday to icy roads near White Point, but its firefighters still helped battle a house fire.

Chief Moyal Conrad described the dangerous driving conditions he had to deal with as his crews responded to a call for help from the Liverpool Fire Department.

“We left here. It was a sunny day. There was no snow in the air. The closer we got to Liverpool, the snow was coming down. Reports were the house was fully involved and the roads were treacherous. I was driving the first truck for Greenfield. The road was really, really slippery. The first turn we almost didn’t make. I went in about a couple hundred yards and stopped and rethought my choices. We were only hundreds of yards away from the scene, so we proceeded very, very cautiously. Every turn we tried to make, the truck had a mind of itself.

“The front tires would not steer at all. Every time we went towards the ditch until we hit the hard crushed snow and it bounced back on. … There was a downhill turn at the end and as we were going down the hill, she just kept sliding, sliding, sliding and she just got to the edge and all of a sudden the front tires caught the hard snow and bounced back on the road. When it did that, it slingshot my ass end then my truck into the ditch. It put a brand new 2023, million-dolar truck into the ditch.”

Conrad was in the truck with his son Brandon, who is also the deputy chief. The chief says he’s grateful they escaped unhurt.

“I was basically holding on to him saying, ‘Oh my god, we’re going off, Brandon.’ It’s a very sickly feeling when you have no control of what you’re driving.”

The other tanker truck from Greenfield that went off the road on Sunday in icy conditions. (Greenfield and District Volunteer Fire Department)

Firefighters from Liverpool, Greenfield, North Queens, Port Medway and Mill Village responded to the blaze off the White Point Road on Sunday. That was during a freezing rain warning, which made already slick side roads in the area even more dangerous.

Conditions were so bad that a salt truck also ended up in the ditch.

The Greenfield department sent two tankers. Soon after Conrad’s truck left the road, another tanker from Greenfield coming the other way also slid off the road and landed on its side.

Nobody was injured in either case. And two of the crewmembers from the second truck walked to the scene and spent the rest of the day helping fight the fire, even though it was difficult to stand on the icy roads.

“And they fought fire for the rest of the afternoon and the evening and our rescue truck come along with four other firefighters that made it to the scene and they were on scene fighting fire all afternoon, all evening.”

Conrad says the truck he was driving was a newer model the department bought in 2023. He believes that one can be fixed. The other tanker was an older model from 2017 that was extensively damaged and will probably have to be replaced.

A new tanker truck costs about $1.2 million, he said.

He said he hopes insurance will help cover the costs of repairs and replacement. And there may be some money available through the Region of Queens, which provides up to $425,000 over 10 years for new equipment.

But any insurance payout will cover only what the department paid for the truck, not its replacement cost, Conrad said. So, the fire department could still be on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Most of that would have to be raised through the volunteer firefighters’ fundraising efforts like community breakfasts or the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50 draw.

“We need to think a lot of things out,” Conrad says. “Queens County doesn’t have a big tax base. We do not have a lot of money to work with. We do a lot of fundraising just to keep the lights on. We have to flip a lot of eggs sometimes in order to buy these trucks.” 

Conrad says they get about $80,000 a year from the Region of Queens to help run the department, half of which goes to keep the hall open. 

“That does not buy equipment, that does not train my men. All that stuff is done by the great people of this county when the fire departments put out their hands (for fundraising) … If it wasn’t for the fundraising, us out here in the country, it makes it hard to be able to purchase stuff. We had a truck plan and that truck plan has gone right out the window at the moment.”

Even so, he said he’s hopeful that things will work out.

“On a good note, in the last two days, I’ve taken a ton of calls and emails from people who want to help out. I just got a message from a fire chief in Prince Edward Island who wants to help us out.”

And he said the neighbouring North Queens Fire Association has loaned them one of their older tankers. So, he said the Greenfield department is still able to respond to fire or medical emergencies.

“We’re not defeated yet. We have the gear and we have the trucks. Members are keen. I don’t want to take away from anybody else’s fundraising, but think of us the next time we have a breakfast or something and come out and help us out.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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The North Queens Fire Association bought a new rescue truck in December 2023 to respond to medical emergencies and other calls. (North Queens Fire Association Facebook page)

The fire chief in North Queens wants answers about why his department isn’t being called to more medical emergencies in the community.

Chris Wolfe, who leads the volunteer-run North Queens Fire Association in Caledonia, says he’s worried that residents aren’t getting the help they need and someone could die because of it.

“We’re supposed to get called for pretty well anything that the ambulance will come out to North Queens for and that hasn’t been the case here lately,” he told QCCR.

“My concern is that the community’s not getting the help that they need when they need help the most. You take an ambulance takes an hour basically get to North Queens and even longer if you’re in a storm, so potentially somebody could be lying there for an hour without medical help.”

That’s why Wolfe has organized a public meeting on March 3 at 7 p.m. at the North Queens Fire Hall in Caledonia at 9793 Highway 8.

He’s invited officials from Emergency Medical Care and Emergency Health Services, as well as Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also the minister of emergency management, and Health Minister Michelle Thompson. Wolfe is also encouraging residents to attend.

Wolfe expressed his frustration in a recent Facebook post. He also posted last August asking residents to contact him if they’ve called 911 in the past expecting the fire department to respond.

A post on the North Queens Fire Association Facebook page from Chief Chris Wolfe.

“I’ve previously had meetings with EMC and EHS and we’ve talked about it and I thought things were going to get straightened out but obviously they didn’t and we did have one particular call there the night before I posted that and the individual was lying outside in the snow and they weren’t going to page the fire department for it.

“We ended up going over on our own terms and dealing with it till EHS arrived so that was my pet peeve that sent me to put the post on Facebook.”

Emergency Health Services contracts out ambulance and paramedic service in Nova Scotia to Emergency Medical Care, which is owned by Medavie Blue Cross. EMC also operates the province’s 911 call centre.

EMC officials declined an interview request. A spokesman said in an emailed statement that they “are committed to continuing the conversation to address” the fire department’s concerns.

Wolfe said 18 of the first responders at his department are certified under the Medical First Response Program, which trains people to care for someone who is injured. He said they responded to 111 medical calls last year, which account for between 65 and 75 per cent of what they do.

But he said they could potentially respond to more calls and more quickly than EHS, if only they knew about them.

It’s a situation that rural fire departments are dealing with around the province, he says. 

“When you become an MFR agency you choose what level of response you want to be and where we’re so far from a hospital or anything like that we choose to be non-urgent and that means that we give anybody the help that needs it for any type of scenario.”

He says he’s not looking for a quick fix, but he hopes the meeting helps.

“I don’t expect everybody to come (to the meeting) with answers. It’s not going to be fixed overnight.

“The purpose of the March 3rd meeting would be to get everybody there, address what the problems are, take everybody’s concerns from the public, put that all together and then go back to the drawing board and say, ‘Look we know this is what’s wrong, what options do we have to fix this, how can the volunteer fire service and MFRs help us out,’ and then maybe have another public meeting maybe three to four weeks later and come back to the drawing board and tell people what was found out and how things are going to be addressed.

“The more people that show up, the better it will be. And hopefully we can get things addressed and make things better for all of Nova Scotia.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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A house on Wolfe Street in Liverpool was gutted by fire on Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured in the blaze. (Rick Conrad)

Emergency crews were busy in Queens County on Tuesday as a house fire in Liverpool left a family homeless, and a motor vehicle collision snarled traffic in the Brooklyn area.

The Liverpool Fire Department was called to 61 Wolfe St. shortly after 2 p.m. When firefighters arrived on the scene, the house was fully engulfed, according to Liverpool Fire Chief Trevor Munroe.

“We encountered heavy fire conditions on arrival. No one was injured. We did check the homeowner but he seemed fine.”

Munroe said the home’s residents and their pets were outside when firefighters arrived. 

Fire crews clean up after a house fire in Liverpool on Tuesday afternoon. (Rick Conrad)

Six fire departments from Liverpool, Port Medway, Mill Village, Greenfield, North Queens and Italy Cross were at the scene.

Munroe didn’t have many more details on Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ll do a preliminary investigation and then turn the home back over the homeowner and they’ll bring in their insurance company.”

Also on Tuesday afternoon, traffic was being diverted in Brooklyn after a motor vehicle collision in the Sandy Cove area.

Few other details were available late Tuesday afternoon. RCMP could not be reached for comment. 

QCCR will publish more details as they are available.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Donations overflow a trailer headed to support people displaced by the Shelburne County wildfires. Photo Amy MacGowan

Queens County is rallying to help fire-stricken Shelburne communities.

Brooklyn resident Amy MacGowan decided to collect donations of food and clothing to drive to the Shelburne Fire Hall on Tuesday.

Just three hours after making a post on Facebook the community stuffed her Chevy Equinox full of supplies and she was on her way.

MacGowan says the scene at the Shelburne Fire Hall was something to behold.

“I went down, I dropped all that stuff off. It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time.”

Volunteers from the community and aid agencies were standing together to provide comfort to residents who have evacuated and don’t know if they have a home to go back to. MacGowan says a free store was set up in back of the hall, Red Cross workers were helping people register for relief aid and a semi-trailer was filled with water and sport drinks to keep firefighters hydrated on the fire line.

MacGowan decided she would make another supply run on Thursday.

With more notice people volunteered to drive and donations filled 12 vehicles and two trailers creating a Queens Cares Convoy. In addition to the supplies, $5,245 was donated in cash and gift cards.

MacGowan says the pantries in Shelburne are well stocked now and she began looking around to see what else was needed. She learned many of the firefighters are looking for supplies to help them stay on the line.

“They need band aids and foot cream and things like that because their feet are killing them. Their muscles are sore. So, at the end of the day, they just want to wrap up, put some stuff on their feet and go to sleep, get up and go do it again the next day,” said MacGowan. “And Vitamin water they said, was another thing that was on their list. Chocolate milk was another thing that was on their list because they’ve got tons of Gatorade and tons of water and they wanted something else to drink.”

MacGowan says some other items that are in demand include propane, flashlights, batteries, towels and toiletries. She plans to make another run down to Shelburne with more supplies next week.

Until then, donations can be dropped off at the Liverpool Fire Hall, Chamber of Commerce office (in the Work Evolved building), Ingrams Construction or Five Girls Bakery.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

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Dahl Dispatch founder Evan Dahl. Photo contributed by Evan Dahl

Thousands of people up and down the South Shore now benefit from what began as one man’s hobby.

Close to ten years ago Evan Dahl began posting the location and types of emergencies first responders were being called out to support on his Dahl Dispatch Facebook page.

Since then, it has built a following of 28,000 people. Dahl said he feels like he’s performing a community service.

“I enjoy giving the community the basic info of what’s going on. I can’t always give too much info at the time but I try to give them enough so that when they hear sirens they at least have an idea of what’s going on,” said Dahl.

He focuses his efforts on reporting fire calls from across Queens and Lunenburg counties.

Dahl began the page while he was still in high school and since then he has taken a deeper dive into the world of first responders.

Following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather and uncles, Dahl is currently a volunteer firefighter with the *Dayspring fire service.

His day job is spent answering fire calls for Lunenburg and Shelburne counties at Scotia Business Centre.

Keeping the public informed and staying focused at work can be a tricky balance to strike sometimes.

“If it’s busy at work, my hobby has to wait until I get off, I get home,” said Dahl. “I try to balance it and as much as it’s related, I try to keep it separate.”

Many of Dahl’s followers are people in the media who rely on his updates to tip them off to events as they are happening.

“I really like that and usually if there’s a big call on the go they will turn to me for info or that kind of thing. So it’s nice to be able to help them out as well,” said Dahl.

He invests a great deal of time into keeping his page up to date. and recently launched a campaign to try and offset some of his costs.

He set up a “buy me a pizza” fundraiser where anyone who felt like contributing to his work could send him a suggested five-dollar donation. Dahl got the idea from a similar site being run out of metro.

‘There’s a page for Halifax fire calls and he posted this, buy me a coffee site. Basically, you go on and you donate, I think his amount was three or four dollars, enough to buy him a coffee,” said Dahl. “I don’t drink coffee so I put my little spin on it so I put buy me a pizza.”

Dahl raised around $160 but he is not out to make money on the page. He said he does need to update his equipment every few years as technology changes, and may look at doing a yearly fundraising drive.

To follow Dahl’s work go to Dahl Dispatch on Facebook.

*An earlier version of this story indicated Evan Dahl was a volunteer with the Hebbville fire service. It has been corrected to reflect he is a volunteer with Dayspring.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson