Rankin Inlet Fire Department Chief Mark Wyatt saw one of his top priorities move a giant-step closer to reality when Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) recently donated $250,000 towards the design and construction of a Kivalliq Regional Fire Training Centre.
Wyatt said he initially talked to AEM about the need for a proper training facility in Rankin Inlet while the community was hosting Operation Nanook about 18 months ago.
He said that conversation ultimately led to him submitting a proposal to AEM for the training centre about three months ago.
SA国际影视传媒淥ur fire department has been training in the middle of Rankin's smelly old dump for years,SA国际影视传媒� said Wyatt. SA国际影视传媒淚t's reached the point where (a) that doesn't work anymore and (b) it never did in terms of actually training firefighters properly to experience live-fire types of conditions.
SA国际影视传媒淲e designed a training building, talked to the hamlet about finding space to move the training ground to, and secured a site behind the ball field for the facility.SA国际影视传媒�
Wyatt said the building will be constructed in the south and shipped to Rankin.
The facility will be built out of five 40-foot sea cans and one 20-footer, with everything being custom built on the inside, including a concrete floor.
SA国际影视传媒淥n the first floor, we'll have two steel-lined burn rooms and movable steel walls to create a maze for search-and-rescue training,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淕o up the stairs to the second floor and you'll find a full apartment, with a bedroom, living room, hallway and a kitchen with another burn room in it.SA国际影视传媒�
A sprinkler system will be installed on the first two floors, he added, while the third floor will a have confined-space room that you enter from the roof to conduct confined-space training.
It will also have a hatch between the second and third floors SA国际影视传媒渟o we can practice rescuing someone who falls through the floor to the next level and getting them out of the building,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
Wyatt's proposal highlighted how AEM has a fire department with no training and no place to train, while Rankin has a fire department that needs much better training, and every fire department in the region needs a place where it can actually conduct proper training.
AEM will be able to utilize the building and the Rankin department will be able to manage it.
SA国际影视传媒淥ur department has also raised $100,000 towards the building, which leaves me with about another $200,000 to raise through other sources to, basically, finish it all off,SA国际影视传媒� he said.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're fencing the whole area and putting in props for car fires, dumpster fires, flammable liquids SA国际影视传媒� anything possible to get this recognized as a National Fire Protection Agency-certified training facility, so that, in addition to the Rankin and AEM firefighters, we can also teach live-fire training to firefighters across the Kivalliq.
SA国际影视传媒淔irefighters throughout the region need to be able to properly train for the conditions they face and this facility will provide that.
SA国际影视传媒淲e're building this for the benefit of everyone SA国际影视传媒� safety for the community, safety and training for our firefighters, and increased safety and proper training for every department across the Kivalliq.SA国际影视传媒�
