Mandatory Information Night for Volunteer Firefighters in Blandford-Blenheim

Tuesday, 16 July 2019 12:21

The Township of Blandford-Blenheim is looking to hire 12 people to serve as volunteer firefighters in Bright, Drumbo, Plattsville and Princeton.

BLANDFORD-BLENHEIM - The Township of Blandford-Blenheim is hosting a mandatory information night for anyone interested in joining the local fire department.

They have 12 openings right now for volunteer firefighters at the Bright, Drumbo, Plattsville and Princeton fire stations. They are actually paid positions and volunteer firefighters are expected to be on call at strange hours to help assist with calls. Director of Protective Services Rick Richardson says they do ask that if you have a spouse, they highly recommend bringing them with you as they will be going over all of the requirements and daily disruptions that come along with being a volunteer firefighter.

"We want to make sure that the spouses understand too, how many hours their spouse will be away doing courses and maybe at calls and we also want them to understand the type of calls they are going to attend."

Richardson says they want to make sure potential recruits understand everything that comes with the job and the fact that you often see people on their worst day.

"Sometimes you get called out and it is just a little grass fire or a shed fire, sometimes the worst case scenario can be a house on fire or their barn and then the absolutely worst case scenario, we do cover a lot of the 401 and have responded to some pretty gruesome collisions."

Despite that Richardson also notes that it can be a very rewarding part time job and that is why it is crucial to attend this meeting.

"We explain it as in depth as we can, we don't try to scare people away, however we let them know that if some of these are things you can't do, then we recommend you do not take an application. Applications are only handed out that night after you come to the mandatory meeting."

The Information meeting is happening on Wednesday July 17th at 7 pm at the Township office in Drumbo.

Applications will be available at the information night. They also say that if you have a spouse, they highly recommend bringing them with you as they will be going over all of the requirements and daily disruptions that come along with being a volunteer firefighter.

Anyone with further questions can contact the Fire Chief Rick Richardson at 519-463-5347 or via email at rrichardson@blandfordblenheim.ca.