By Craig Westcott
October 6, 2023 Edition
The Conception Harbour Volunteer Fire Department is like many such brigades around the province these days: doing more with fewer people.
"We're looking for members, to be honest with you," said Chief James Lewis after just returning Tuesday from a trip to Immaculate Conception school in Colliers where members from his department and the sister departments in Colliers and Avondale enjoyed talking with children about the basics of fire safety. That's an activity many fire departments do regularly in the never-ending effort to encourage safe practices at home to prevent fires, accidents and tragedies.
Lewis said the Conception Harbour department has about a dozen volunteers and many of them have day jobs, or other work commitments that take them out of town. Hence the need for more members.
"You'd don't have to be from the community to join," Lewis said. "We'd like to get some new young blood."
The department did manage to attract three new members this year.
How big of a commitment is it?
"We have a meeting once a week and probably on Thursday we'll get together for a bit of training," he said. “On the scattered Sunday we might take the truck out for practice."
Lewis reckons there's at least a call for service every week. "It's not only fires, we also have to go and perform first aid (on the highway) when people get hurt, before the ambulance gets there," he said.
Lewis has been a member of the department for some 35 years and said it is a rewarding experience.
"Everybody in the community respects the fire department," he said. "But the problem is getting younger members. We need younger members. And you don't have to be real young, either. We need new members in our department."
Lewis said the fire departments in Conception Bay Centre give each other a lot of support and their members sometimes even train together. They also have mutual aid agreements to help if one particular department has to answer a particularly challenging call and needs more resources.
Speaking of resources, the Conception Harbour department could use more equipment too, Lewis said.
"We need equipment, we need funding," said the chief. "We do our own fundraising but it's not enough to get all the things that we need."
On top of the wish list is a new pumper truck.
"Well, it doesn't have to be a new one, but an up to date one," Lewis allowed. "Our pumper is an older pumper with a tank on it... We need some government funding. Funding is our biggest thing, and members, we need more members."
