By Mark Squibb
Most of us take a little breather between the Christmas holidays and New Year’s festivities, but the residents of St. Vincent’s- Peter’s River-St. Stephen’s had reason to celebrate even in between the two major holidays.
The community welcomed a shiny new fire truck to town on December 28.
“We’re very happy,” said Mayor Verna Hayward. “It’s the first time the town has received anything brand new. We’ve been granted vehicles before that were new to us, but used… The truck we had was old, and we were in desperate need of a better truck, and we lucked out and got a brand-new truck.”
Residents gathered at the Gaskiers ballfield at one o’ clock to celebrate, and paraded the truck through the communities.
The parade was followed by a well-attended reception at the Holyrood Pond Center, where Hayward, Fire Commissioner Robert Fowler, and Placentia-St. Mary’s MHA Sherry Gambin-Walsh made speeches.
You could call it a late gift from Santa, but the truth is the provincial government covered 90 percent of the cost, which was valued at around $85,000.
The communities volunteered to cover their cut of the purchase.
“I have to send out a big, big thank you to the community,” said Hayward. “We’ve done several fundraisers, and the community has come out in fine style. We had cornhole tournaments and card games and ticket sales. We had people purchase tickets from all over, from people living on the mainland to former residents to people living in nearby communities.”
Hayward said the community’s former truck was deemed unsafe and taken out of commission back in February, and residents have had to rely on the Riverhead department for fire protection in the interim.
“Riverhead was on standby, but they serve from Gaskiers to Riverhead,” said the mayor. “So, you could be talking a 45-minute wait or more.”
Hayward said it was a blessing the department never received an emergency call while the truck was out of commission — though the town has had it’s fair share of fires, some tragic, over the years — and expressed her thanks to the Riverhead department for being willing to stay on standby.
The truck is an accessory truck that will be used to carry pumps and hoses to water sources near the scene of a fire — as there are no fire hydrants in the community, firefighters have to rely on natural sources of water to fight blazes. The hilly terrain, said Hayward, can also make battling fires a challenge.
The town of about 200 boasts a volunteer firefighting force of some 20 members.
“We are very, very fortunate to have a good, dedicated, fire team, because that’s key in any of these small towns,” Hayward said. “We have people on our team who have been there 40-plus years.”
Hayward also expressed gratitude to former councils, saying the town has been faithfully submitting applications for a new truck for the last eight or so years.
She said the next item on the wish list is a used pumper truck.
“We need good firefighting services in our communities, regardless of if there’s 20 residents or 200,” said Hayward. “We may live in a small town of only about 200 people, but we have our share of fires unfortunately.”
