May 19, 2011


Photo: l-r back row fire chief Greg Saunders, chair of the fire board Gail Code, Sparky and Reeve Keith Kerr with Garrison, Allina, Madison and Makenna

Close to 200 members of the community gathered at the newly opened Maberly fire hall on May 14 to tour the new facility and enjoy a BBQ beef lunch and demonstrations put on by staff and volunteer fire fighters. Officially named the South Sherbrooke Station, the new joint station will serve Drummond, North Elmsley, and Tay Valley Fire Rescue. Construction of the station began in September 2010 and was completed in March 2011. It became functional on April 1. The new hall is an 8000 square foot facility, built on a 14 acre parcel of land just north of Highway 7 in Maberly, and includes six apparatus bays, a large second storey storage mezzanine, a laundry room, plus work and training areas, two mechanical rooms, multiple offices, a full kitchen facility and a large meeting room that can accommodate all 24 members of the fire rescue team. The facility also has full drive around capacity and a fully paved yard.

One of the main goals of the new station was to accommodate all of the emergency vehicles, including a pumper, pumper tanker, an equipment van, a training tanker, a smaller vehicle for wild land fires, and an ambulance, all under a single roof. This allows for easier access to the vehicles, ensuring that they can be more easily checked, cleaned and serviced.

Fire Chief Greg Saunders was thrilled with the community turn out for the opening and is extremely pleased with the new facility. “Morale is very high here now with the new facility,” he said.

Also present at the event were Reeve Keith Kerr and Gail Code, chair of the fire board.

Reeve Keith Kerr said, “We're extremely pleased and proud of the new station. It was badly needed for a number of reasons and now we have a much better fire department as a result.”

Gail Code said, “It’s great for all of the guys and is an all around good thing. It 's also great for the taxpayers too, since the station was built to serve a very large area and as a result we are able to split the costs. We also owe our thanks to the building committee who did a really great job.”

The new facility in total cost $1.3 million and was built by Guy Saumure and Sons Construction Ltd. Two thirds of the funding was provided through infrastructure grants provided by the federal and provincial governments who each contributed $430,000. The remaining third was funded by fire department reserves and offsets through the Tay Valley Township.

 

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