The Moose Jaw Fire Department was called to an incident on Normandy Drive in which a public works employee needed to be extracted from a trench after breaking his leg.
However, this incident turned out to be a mock exercise involving the fire department working with staff from the public works department. About 12 firefighters, two fire trucks and several support vehicles visited an actual worksite on the 900-block of Normandy Drive on May 16 to complete the activity.
“From everything I’ve heard, it went very well,” said Fire Chief Rod Montgomery. “Everybody who responded also did well.”
This was the first live mock exercise in a trench that the fire department has performed, he continued. While firefighters train regularly at the stations, they usually do so in controlled environment.
Firefighters arrived on scene around 1:30 p.m. and completed the mock exercise just after 2 p.m., explained Craig Hemingway, communications manager for the City of Moose Jaw. The public works employee who acted as the victim was removed from the hole on a stretcher board.
“It’s important not only for our public works crews to know what may happen in case of an emergency, (it also plants) those seeds that accidents can happen,” he said. “They don’t happen often, but when they do, it’s good to be trained on the protocols and what will be the procedure if somebody is stuck in one of those holes.”
This also gives the fire department practice about how to handle such a situation and keeps their skills sharp, Hemingway added.
The whole process from start to finish went well overall, especially considering this was the fire department’s first time practising in a real trench, said Montgomery, adding one thing upon which firefighters could improve in the future is their situational awareness.
Hemingway thanked residents for co-operating with the exercise and for their patience, particularly since the area was briefly shut down. It was important for the municipality to work on its safety protocols and ensure the safety of its workers and residents.
The fire department appreciated working with the public works department and how co-operative its employees were, echoed Montgomery, especially since public works employees are regularly busy with handling water main breaks.
