Manitoulin fire departments are hosting local training with provincial support to ensure all volunteer firefighters meet Ontario's mandatory July 1 safety certification deadline.
MANITOULIN鈥擶hile fire departments around Manitoulin are doing all they can to meet the Ontario fire certification deadline, the office of the Ontario Fire Marshal (OFM) and Ontario Fire College (OFC) have been providing resources for the required training to take place on the Island. This will continue until all firefighters receive the training and are certified.
鈥淚f any fire departments on the Island are not certified yet, they are making a very serious attempt to do this,鈥 stated Mike Addison, Gore Bay fire chief and deputy coordinator of the Manitoulin Mutual Aid group. 鈥淚 agree with Dwayne (Elliot), Assiginack fire chief and fire coordinator of Manitoulin Mutual Aid, that it is too late now to support not having the fire certifications done, but it sure has taken a lot of work to get where we are now on the Island.鈥
Mr. Elliott said, 鈥淲e had previously asked for an extension of the certification deadline past July I, but I definitely support the fire certification training, and all fire departments are working towards having firefighters becoming certified. When this was first announced, there was a lot of uncertainty and confusion, but the OFM and OFC have provided a lot of resources, instructors and trainers for training sessions.鈥
Subscribe now and have access to all our stories, enjoy exclusive content and stay up to date with constant updates.