Fire prevention experts say people should take a few simple steps before turning on the heat this fall.
As temperatures drop homeowners are powering up their electric baseboard, cranking their oil furnaces and lighting their fires.
Captain John Long with the Liverpool Fire Department says a few precautions can keep people safe as well as warm this season.
“It’s the time of year to change the batteries in your smoke detectors,” said Long. “We’re getting to the wood burning season so make sure everybody’s cleaning their chimneys before they start that.”
Long says anyone who isn’t comfortable with heights or doesn’t have the proper equipment should look for help before attempting to clean their own chimney.
“You can do it yourself if you have the gear but it’s, I’d say better, it’s safer to have somebody else do it, especially somebody that’s trained. They’re going to do a good job and you’re going to be happier for it. I’m not saying don’t do it yourself but if you don’t have the equipment to properly do it, let somebody do it for you,” said Long.
Many people also like to tidy their yards by raking and burning their leaves.
Long says to better reduce the chance of those fires getting out of control people should take advantage of the municipality’s yard waste pick up days.
“Bag it up and put it out to the end of the road or if you’ve got a trailer, haul it to Western Head to the Region’s yard waste site. It’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything other than your time. It’s a much better option,” said Long.
Regardless how your home is heated, Long says having someone who knows what they’re doing come and check out your heating system can give you peace of mind in the cold months ahead.
The Liverpool Fire department will be more nimble in their responses thanks to a $20,000 provincial grant.
The fire service is one of 65 organizations across Nova Scotia, which will benefit from the Emergency Services Provider Fund.
Captain John Long says the department will be replacing their existing hydraulic combination cutter/jaws of life tool and ram with new lightweight battery powered models.
“It’s going to make us much more versatile,” said Long. “For that car that’s 300 meters well off the road that’s really hard to get to, this certainly makes life a lot easier.”
Long says the equipment will be ordered right away but is concerned shortages in manufacturing caused by the pandemic could delay delivery.
“But I’m not sure,” said Long. “If they have them on the shelf, within a few weeks. If they don’t, who knows?”
Long says they’ve been using the existing hydraulic tools for years.
They are still fully functional and will continue to be used until the new equipment arrives.
A downed power line briefly trapped students inside a bus Monday afternoon.
Shortly after 3:00pm a bus carrying 23 students on route 122 from Liverpool Regional High School, South Queens Middle School and John C Wickwire Academy, encountered the power line on Barss Street in Liverpool.
Captain John Long of the Liverpool Fire Department explains what led to the downed line.
“Another vehicle had hit the pole, or rubbed the pole and pulled the mast off the house. The bus came along and didn’t notice the low-hanging wire and so it got tangled up in it,”said Long. “As soon as they realized what they were in they stopped the bus and called for help.”
South Shore Regional Centre for Education officials contacted the parents of the 23 students on board to make them aware of the situation.
Nova Scotia Power, Liverpool Fire Department, and RCMP worked together to remove the line from the bus.
The ordeal lasted about an hour but with no air conditioning and temperatures approaching 30 degrees in the mid-afternoon, the only relief students had from the heat was to open the windows.
Liverpool Fire Department provided students with bottled water when they were able to exit the bus.
Some parents arrived to pick up their children from the incident site.
SSRCE Communications Coordinator Ashley Gallant says students were checked out by EHS before being released.
Gallant credits the quick actions of the bus driver for ensuring the safety of everyone on the bus.
“Really have to give some recognition to the bus driver who immediately recognized that something wasn’t right and stopped, according to procedures and contacted Nova Scotia Power, as we should,” said Gallant. “So it’s really the best outcome here. Everybody was safe and no injuries.”
LFD new ladder truck beside their rescue boat. Photo John Long
The Liverpool fire department now owns their ladder truck free and clear thanks to a donation by Mersey Seafoods and the J and W Murphy Foundation.
Volunteers at the station were surprised when opening mail this week to discover a cheque for $50,000 to go towards the purchase of another truck.
The department determined before Christmas they would need to replace their ladder truck.
Hydraulics that lift the ladder had failed and the department learned repairing the equipment was not only costly but there was no guarantee the repair would pass an inspection to return the engine to service.
Liverpool fire department approached the Region of Queens for help to buy a replacement. The municipality stepped up with a $46,000 interest-free loan.
Members located a ladder truck for sale in New Brunswick and took ownership it earlier this week.
Captain John Long says the department had been exploring several options to raise the money needed to buy the ladder truck.
“We had sent out some letters requesting some help,” said Long. “This came through and it’s huge. Not just the number but the impact it has on us is huge. And we can work towards replacing our boat.”
Replacing their 1994 rescue boat had been the fire department’s focus before the issues arose with the ladder truck.
Long says the boat is showing its age.
“The ring is not holding air. We can use it in an emergency but we can’t really do any training with it,” said Long.
The new boat will need to be outfitted for rescue operations. A T-top, rear bench, console, steering wheel and search lights will need to be fitted to the boat. A new modern, sonar system will be installed and other safety equipment will be updated as well.
All told, Long says they need to raise $56,000 to turn out the new boat.
He says any money donated by individuals and businesses in the community towards replacing the ladder truck will be applied to the purchase of the boat.
Longs says thanks to the generous donation from Mersey Seafoods and the J and W Murphy Foundation the loan to the municipality has been repaid in full and the rest will go into the boat fund.
Liverpool FD receives replacement ladder truck in Digby. Photo contributed by Trevor Munroe
The Liverpool fire department has a new ladder truck.
Liverpool fire department Captain John Long says the vehicle had to be replaced after key mechanical components failed.
“We had some issues with the hydraulic system. Basically, the ladder’s been rendered useless at this point. The estimate was around $100,000 to get it repaired and even that was no guarantee that we were going to be able to get it certified, because there’s an annual certification,” said Long.
The new-to-Liverpool 1992 Spartan ladder truck is six years older than the engine it is replacing but has the same 75 foot ladder reach.
Long says as the only ladder truck in Queens County the engine is called out regularly.
“We run it to all chimney fires, so in the wintertime, fairly frequently. Any structure fires, it’s part of our protocols and certainly mutual aid calls within the county, it’s used fairly frequently,” said Long.
Liverpool fire department brought the ladder truck troubles to Region of Queens council’s attention at their last meeting before Christmas.
The municipality has an agreement in place with the five regional fire departments to provide $275,000 every year towards the purchase of one new engine. The chiefs from Greenfield, Liverpool, Mill Village, North Queens and Port Medway worked out a schedule for when each department would receive the funding.
Liverpool is in line to get the money in 2025 but because of the urgency around losing the county’s only ladder truck, hoped to be permitted to jump the queue.
A request was also made to increase the standard amount allocated from $275,000 to $350,000.
Council did not approve any funding at that time.
Mayor Darlene Norman says Liverpool fire department put forward a plan to buy a used engine at a special council meeting on January 20.
“The decision of the Liverpool fire department is that they needed this truck to get them through the time period,” said Norman. “It was the opinion of everyone on council that, yes, they need this.”
Council agreed to provide a three-year, interest-free loan to the Liverpool fire department for $40,000 plus HST for a total of $46,000.
They bought the ladder truck from the Hartland New Brunswick fire department and picked it up in Digby on Saturday.
Long says the work now begins to raise the money to pay off the loan.
“Well we’ve already started. We’ve had individuals and businesses making some donations to us,” said Long. “We had those start rolling in, actually, I had a lady call me the other day, I’ve got a cheque for you and a bunch of bottles. You want to cash them, come out. [I said] perfect, we’ll take it.”
Long says people can also help by buying tickets on the weekly 50-50 draw held on behalf of firefighters across Nova Scotia.
He says when buying tickets, indicate you wish to support Liverpool and a portion of the contribution will come to their department.
The $5,000 they’ve made from the draw last year will be applied towards repaying the loan as will the proceeds of the sale of the old ladder truck.
Anyone wishing to donate to the new truck fund can do by contacting the Liverpool fire department directly.
Liverpool firefighters were surprised when a fire call came from their own hall on Tuesday.
Captain John Long was at the Liverpool Fire Hall that morning delivering first aid training when he heard the alarm go off around 8:30.
A fire had broken out in the apparatus bay at the back of the hall.
The fire knocked out power to the department’s paging system so the call went out by text to the member’s phones.
Despite the change in routine, the bulk of the Liverpool fire service were quick to respond.
“Everytime a door opened, more crew came flooding in to see what they could do,” said Long.
He said the power was also cut to the automatic garage door openers which made moving the engines out of the bays difficult.
What really stood out for Long throughout the incident was the teamwork and camaraderie of the members.
“I’ve worked with this crew on how many structure fires before. Never have I been the first person on scene at ours,” said Long. “But just watching them come through, and everybody dug in. It was great to see and not surprising at all, but it was almost magic.”
Port Medway, North Queens and Greenfield fire services responded to the mutual aid call, but the fire was knocked down by the time they arrived.
Long said the damage to the hall and equipment was minimal. Crews had the water from the sprinklers mopped up and the soot from the fire cleaned by mid afternoon.
The department didn’t miss a beat as they turned out to fight a chimney fire that evening.
Because the situation turned out so well, Long said he can look at the lighter side.
“I can remember back when our teachers in school [were] teaching us the definition of irony, they always used the example, the fire hall catches on fire. That’s a great example of irony.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but Long said it appears to be electrical in nature.
Even though everything turned out well Long expects members will discuss the fire at their meeting this week to determine what went right and how they can be better prepared to deal with a fire I n the hall.
“There’ll certainly be an evaluation of, is this the best we can do for preparedness? We now know it can happen. At the end of the day, nothing may change and that may not be a bad thing. Maybe this is the best that can be done.”
