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Lakeland and District Fire Department raising funds for expansion

Feb 21, 2018 | 11:00 AM

With call volumes and equipment size increasing, the Lakeland and District Fire Department (LDFD) is organizing events to help raise funds for a fire hall expansion.

The first fundraising event was the inaugural LDFD Fish Derby, which was hosted at Emma Lake over the Family Day long weekend.

According to Chris Mcshannock, Fire Chief of the LDFD, an expanded fire hall expansion to Christopher Lake means better training opportunities.

“Our call volume is on the rise and our equipment is much bigger and we need more space for training and for people, and to be able to do our jobs and work,” Mcshannock said. “That’s ultimately the reason why we’re going to move forward and build a hall that will accommodate what we actually need.”

LDFD services a large territory, with calls coming in from as far away as the Candle Lake area, around the Montreal Lake area, south of Hanson’s Hill, west towards the RM of Paddockwood. Mutual assistance agreements exist with the departments covering the Prince Albert National Park.

The fire chief said the hall in Christopher Lake is currently 3,100 square feet; the expansion will boost the space to roughly 10,000 square feet.

Mcshannock said LDFD has committed to raise $100,000 towards the expansion. The inaugural fish derby in Christopher Lake brought in roughly $7,500 of the firefighters target; Mcshannock said more fundraising opportunities, including another fish derby will take place in the future.

“[The fish derby] is going to be an annual event, we’ve already talked to some partners for the future, so I think we’re going to be bigger and better every year and keep this thing going,” Mcshannock said. 

      – With files from CKBI’s Ken Landers

 

 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On twitter: @BryanEneas