The past month has seen your local fire department toned out for eight calls.
Late on the night of March 21, seven members responded to a call for round bales on fire beside the highway. Three bales were burning when we arrived on scene. Oddly enough, two of the bales were separated by 40 meters or so, while the thirds was around a kilometer down the road. The incident commander was unable to see any lightning clouds in the area and it is unlikely the bales self-ignited. Idle hands make mischief, it seems, and local residents are lucky these fires did not spread to surrounding grass and cause much more damage. If arson is your idea of fun, then maybe stay home and play video games, kids.
On March 25, trucks were dispatched to a motor vehicle accident. Upon arrival, the driver was out of the vehicle and was soon checked over by Emergency Medical Services. The vehicle was into some trees, and a few branches needed to be cut away to get the door open to retrieve needed documents. At least, that was the excuse the Chief used to try out the new cordless chainsaw.
On March 24th, a resident of a summer village left a message on the Fire Hall answering machine that hos Carmon Monoxide detector was going off in his cottage. He was not in the area, but he could hear it on his cell phone app. It wasn’t until two days later when the Chief checked the answering machine that the message was found. Two members went and confirmed that CO levels were indeed very high in the building. The building was ventilated and the gas company called. Residents are reminded that the Fire Hall is not staffed 24/7, so if you have an emergency (which a CO alarm is, by the way), please call 9-1-1 to get a better response time than 48 hours.
On April 2, the department was called out for Mutual Aid for Ponoka County Fire West (Rimbey) for alarms at a local golf course. When Ponoka Fire arrived on scene, they determined it was a false alarm and stood Bentley down.
On April 7, eight members responded to a call of a large grass fire threatening homes east of town. Thanks to the hard work of the firefighters on scene (as well as that of some bystanders), the fire was quickly brought under control. The burned area is black now, but will sprout the greenest grass in the area in a few weeks.
Later the same day, Bentley was again toned out for Mutual Aid, this time to assist Eckville Fire with a large bale fire in their area. Nine Bentley firefighters spent several hours protecting exposures and working to control the fire before being released from the scene. We are always happy to assist our fellow firefighters (although bale fires are just no fun at all).
On April 16, Bentley responded to a medical lift assist in town. The patient was quickly transferred to EMS care and transported to hospital.
Finally, on April 18, Bentley Fire responded to another Mutual Aid call for Eckville Fire Department, this time for a fully involved barn fire. However, Eckville FD was able to quickly bring the fire under control and stood Bentley down before we were able to arrive on scene.
The members of the Bentley Fire Department recently took possession of a Zodiac style rescue boat, which will aid our efforts greatly when responding to watercraft and swimmer emergencies on the two lakes in our protection district. We will begin training with is as soon as the water gets a little softer and easier to move through.