The local department will be picking up a 2021 walk around rescue van. The municipality will have to kick in an additional $75,000 for the purchase. Having that money available and committed might have helped Boissevain-Morton attain the grant.
The new vehicle is certainly needed. According to Fire Chief Martin Paradis, the chassis from the existing van is from 2003, but the rear compartment box is from the early 1990’s. To make matters worse, in December of 2019, the van was damaged by a semi driving too close to an accident scene, scraping the side and damaging a door.
“We are super excited to have this new rescue van,” Paradis stated. “The existing rescue van was not able to get into fields because it wasn’t a four by four and only a two-door so it didn’t have much room for transportation of fire fighters. Compartment size is outdated for what we need for equipment now and wasn’t able to be adjusted without tearing out the whole interior.”
The new van will be a four-by-four and will be able to transport more fire fighters to an incident. It will have better scene lighting, be more visible and will have more accessible and adjustable storage compartments.
Paradis added the municipality would keep the old van chassis if it can be repurposed. If not, it will be put up for tender for another department to use.
Swanson said the order was held up pending hearing about the grant, but now it is out. They are unsure exactly when it will arrive, but the fire chief said he was hoping it would be by the end of the year. The head of council says the grant is really great for the municipality.
“This is a really good news story,” she said. “It is really exciting news for this community.”
Neighbouring Killarney-Turtle Mountain received $144,924 for a wildlife brush truck from the Fire Protection Grant. In Prairie Lakes, they received a total of nearly $200,000, including $95,239 for extrication equipment and $30,920 for self contained breathing apparatises in Ninette.

by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff