The Saskatchewan Rivers School Division has buses that go out of service and can no longer be used for transportation and Buckland Fire and Rescue has a need for vehicles for use in training. The two items came together at the regular meeting of the Saskatchewan Rivers school board on Monday.
The board approved a request by Buckland Fire and Rescue to use two decommissioned buses for use in an extricating exercise in October.
“Essentially what we do is we strip a couple of buses completely so we have the parts and then we donate the two busses so that they can do their work,” director of education Neil Finch said.
In August, the department sent a request to the division for use of the bus. According to a letter from Buckland Fire Chief Paul See, the department has a one-time opportunity to receive provincially funded training.
The Transportation Rescue Extrication Program offers training and equipment to Saskatchewan fire departments. The request was to acquire one to two school buses to complete the training.
“It’s just a nice partnership piece that we can do,” Finch said. “If it means that we help with the training that is going on, then we’re happy to help. They are busses that are being decommissioned anyway.”
In 2020 the division donated a decommissioned bus for use by Buckland. In his letter, See wrote that the previous donation was much appreciated, and helped keep the community safe.
“This course will be offered to members of Buckland Fire and Rescue and other surrounding departments. This training will ultimately provide greater community safety, including that of your students and staff,” he wrote.
The training is scheduled for Oct. 21 to 23 at the Buckland Fire Hall and is funded through the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and SGI.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
