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Whitehorse-bound fire truck finds warm welcome in Warman Always happy to provide a favour to fellow firefighters... By TERRY PUGH
tpugh@ccgazette.ca
A state-of-the-art fire truck manufactured in Winnipeg and bound for the City of Whitehorse, Yukon, made a pit stop in Warman on the weekend. The vehicle, manufactured
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by Fort Garry Fire Trucks in Winnipeg, is being driven by Gil Bradet and Remi Smith of Whitehorse. The pair were approaching Saskatoon when Bradet decided to phone Warman City Manager Stanley Westby, whom he knew from Westby’s days a City Manager in Whitehorse a few years go. “I remembered Stan saying he was in Warman, which is close to Saskatoon,” said Bradet. “I just thought I’d touch base, since we’re old friends. Stan invited us out for supper and to stay the night, and then the fire department offered us a heated fire hall to park the truck for the night. At minus 30, it’s nice to have that kind of hospitality. To park a fire truck in a fire hall, you can’t ask for better than that.” Warman Deputy Fire Chief Russ Austin said they were happy to provide a favour for fellow firefighters. The City of Whitehorse, with a population of 28,000 residents, has a mix of full-time and volunteer firefighters. All firefighters are trained to professional standards. Bradet, who works as an Aircraft Rescue Firefighter as well as a fire safety equipment sales rep, was attending a sales meeting at Fort Garry Fire Trucks manufacturing plant in Winnipeg when he was asked by the company president to drive the truck back to Whitehorse, a distance of about 3,600 kilometers.
“It’s a long drive,” said Bradet in an interview at the Warman Fire Hall on Monday morning, February 10 just before he and Smith left to hit the road to Edmonton. “This is a nice truck, but it’s made for a fighting fires. It’s not exactly made for long highway journeys.” Bradet said he was impressed not just with the Warman Fire Hall facility, but with the hospitality shown by the city. “It’s pretty amazing to see how this community has grown,” said Bradet. “I was here twenty years ago. I hardly recognize the place.” Austin jokingly offered to trade the Warman Fire Department’s aging pumper truck for the new Whitehorse-bound unit, but the proposition was politely declined. “That probably wouldn’t go over too well with the City of Whitehorse,” said Bradet. Bradet said the truck was custom-designed by the Whitehorse Fire Department to meet the needs of the northern community. “Being made in Winnipeg, the manufacturers understand cold weather,” said Bradet. There’s plenty of heat in this unit, not just in the cab but also in the pumphouse to protect the equipment, and also heat by the tank. It also has very powerful on-scene LED lamps that light up the scene like the sun just came up. “But there are also other features that you don’t find on too many other units.” The truck has chains that can be applied to the tires automatically without anyone having to get out of the cab. “It’s pretty cool,” said Bradet. “You probably wouldn’t need a feature like that in this province, but once you get up north into the Yukon mountains, with those steep roads and all that snow, it’s nice to be able to use those chains in the mountain passes.”
TERRY PUGH | CLARK’S CROSSING GAZETTE
The fire truck bound for the Yukon’s capital city of Whitehorse was housed overnight in the Warman Fire Hall on Sunday night. The vehicle left early Monday morning and is expected to arrive in Whitehorse on Thursday, Feb 13. (Left to right) Warman Deputy Fire Chief Russ Austin, Remi Smith of Whitehorse, Warman firefighter Greg Baker, Gil Bradet of Whitehorse, and Warman City Manager Stanley Westby.
Warman library records sharp rise in circulation after move By TERRY PUGH
tpugh@ccgazette.ca
The Warman branch of the Wheatland Regional Library recorded an increase of nearly 5,000 “checkouts” in 2013 compared to a year earlier. The big reason for the increase, according to library board member Richard Beck, was the move to a new facility in the Warman Community Middle School last fall. “Definitely, it made a big difference,” said Beck, a member of both the local library board and the regional library board, as well as a Warman city councilor. “The connection with the school has certainly helped the library gain a stronger profile in the community.” Beck said the new location offers a bigger space, more selection, brighter surroundings, longer hours and increased programming. In 2013, the Warman branch recorded 35,953 checkouts, up
from 31,010 in 2012. That was the biggest yearover-year increase in circulation numbers of any branch in the Wheatland Regional Library system, which includes a total of 47 branches. But the Martensville branch is still the top performer when it comes to circulation numbers, according to the Wheatland Regional Library central office. In 2013, Martensville had 40,353 checkouts, compared to 37,771 in 2012. Overall, the regional library recorded a total circulation of 357,171 checkouts, reflecting the popularity of the library’s new province-wide inter-library loan system. Patrons with any library can access materials from other library systems through an integrated electronic database that was put in place in 2011. Cara Barrett, Assistant Head Librarian for the Warman branch library, said many young families are taking ad-
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signing out books at the same time.” Barrett said the students quickly mastered the art of ordering the books they want to read online by using their own assigned bar code. “It didn’t take them long to get the hang of it,” she said. “The seniors are a little more reluctant. We do all the ordering for most of them.” Beck said the library’s location is convenient for people in the community who are using the recreational facilities in the Legends Centre, which is attached to the middle years school. “In the evening, when parents drop their kids off to hockey practice, they’ll often walk over to the library, especially if they also have younger children,” said Beck. “So this has really helped strengthen the cultural aspect of the Legends Centre, which was the original vision for the facility when it was first launched a few years ago.”
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vantage of the facility and the programs offered for youngsters. “Story time is a big draw,” said Barrett. “We have a really nice space here for the preschool kids, where they can play with the Lego blocks and read picture books.” Barrett said she’s also noticed an increase in the number of seniors. “It’s taken a while for some people to get used to the idea that the library is in a school, but still open to the community as a whole,” she said. “Sometimes they’re a little unsure when they first come in, but they get more comfortable with each return trip.” But the big increase in circulation is also attributable to the heavy use by classes in the middle years school. “We usually have at least one class in here at all times,” she said. “Sometimes there’s more than one. It can be a little hectic, especially when they’re all
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