GORDON—Residents of Gordon/Barrie Island and the Town of Gore Bay packed the Gordon/Barrie Island Community Centre to recognize and thank members of the local volunteer fire department for their service, dedication and commitment in protecting local residents.
“The main reason we are here tonight is to recognize the members of the Gore Bay Joint Fire Department for all your hard work, service, dedication and commitment to protecting the residents of Gordon/Barrie Island and Gore Bay. I am so proud of all of you,” said Fire Chief Mike Addison.
“It goes without saying thank you for all that you do as firefighters, all your work and efforts to protect all of us,” said Lee Hayden, reeve of Gordon/Barrie Island. “You lead by your example as good man and women and you definitely do more than put out fires, with your contributions to the community.”
Gore Bay Town Councillor Terry Olmstead said, “on behalf of Gore Bay council, staff and residents I would like to thank each and every one of the firefighters for your courage, hard work, dedication and commitment. Thank you.”
Carrie Lewis, Gordon/Barrie Island clerk and Gore Bay Fire Board administrator, who was master of ceremonies for the event, welcomed all those in attendance. “We just thought it was time to hold an event like this to recognize the firefighters. And to recognize and honour the work that you do every day that makes them extraordinary.”
“I have the pleasure of being the joint fire board administrator,” said Ms. Lewis. “Tonight, you will hear from a few people of the immense appreciation we all have for our firefighters.”
“The councils and communities of Gordon/Barrie Island and Gore Bay are very supportive of our volunteer firefighters and your importance in the community,” said Ms. Lewis. She listed off several council members and staff for each community who were in attendance.
Fire Chief Addison and Deputy Chief Duncan Sinclair presented Ms. Lewis with a gift for all her work as fire board administrator.
“I would like to thank everyone who is in attendance at tonight’s event,” said Reeve Hayden. “Mike Addison has taken the fire department to a new level with training, and it makes the community so proud.” He and Mr. Olmstead presented a plaque to Mr. Addison which read, “With appreciation of your service as Fire Chief of the Gore Bay Joint Fire Department. From the municipality of Gordon/Barrie Island and the Town of Gore Bay.”
Reeve Hayden said, “in the past few years the fire department has received donations from the Gore Bay Rotary Club, Western Manitoulin Lions Club, Lyons Memorial United Church, All Saints Anglican Church, that Mike can elaborate on in a few minutes. And the Smith Family Foundation for providing funding to our municipality for use by the volunteer fire department. Funding that our council felt very much included community betterment.”
“First off, I would like to thank the families of our firefighters,” said Mr. Addison. “Without their support we would not get our firefighters out to fires and practices, so thank you for sharing your firefighter with us. We know how stressful it can be when we get called out in the middle of the night and don’t come back until morning.”
“We spend a lot of time at practice and training and keep strange hours, and we miss things like birthdays and anniversaries,” said Mr. Addison. “Next, I want to thank the municipality of Gordon/Barrie Island and Town of Gore Bay for their support and especially support for our operating budget. We are jointly owned by the two municipalities and we appreciate their support. I especially want to thank Carrie Lewis and her team who manage our administration and go above and beyond to support us, and this evening is a great example of that.”
“I want to thank the employers who allow firefighters to leave work to respond to fires and emergency calls during the workday. We never know when it might be their business we are responding to,” said Mr. Addison.
“In particular, I want to thank the following organizations who helped support us to keep our personal protective equipment up to date for our firefighters. The Gore Bay Rotary Club, Lyons Memorial United Church, All Saints Anglican Church and Western Manitoulin Lions Club,” continued Mr. Addison.
“Our own firefighters raised $2,300 at a car wash (organized by firefighter Justin Harris). In total, we were able to raise over $11,000 to help us replace outdated PPE such as bunker gear, helmets, boots, gloves and balaclavas,” said Mr. Addison.
“This year, with mandatory training (through the province), more of our budget went into the additional training we have had to do,” continued Mr. Addison. “We asked the community for support. A full set of (PPE) is just shy of $4,500 and that does not include radios or breathing apparatus.”
“We are truly grateful to the Smith Family Foundation for allowing us to purchase the breathing air compressor which will allow us to do more training for interior attacks and working in hazardous environments,” said Mr. Addison.
Mr. Addison explained that in 2022 the Ontario Fire Marshal mandated firefighter certification. “When I first heard about this I was ready to quit. I reached out to a friend of mine who is the fire chief in Markstay-Warren and he convinced me that we can do this. And we did it. With Duncan Sinclair and John Baker assisting with the signoffs and help from some of our senior firefighters we were able to get the training done for seven more firefighters. It was a lot of hard work and training around health and safety. What was being found in the province was that too many firefighters were getting hurt or killed on fire scenes, so these training standards were developed to keep firefighters safe.”
In March of last year, Mr. Addison said one of the firefighters was ready for certification. “Justin Harris had met all the requirements and we put him up for interior firefighter with auto extraction. He worked very hard to achieve this and has helped mentor many of the younger firefighters.”
As of last September, we had six more firefighters ready and with enough documentation to submit for certification. As well as Mr. Harris, six other firefighters received their certificates for interior firefighting including Andy Campbell, Andrew Cone, Kyleen Robertson, Jon Oliver, Devin Wheale, and Zach Robinson, explained Mr. Addison.
“We now have five NFPA firefighter 1-2 standards, and seven with Ontario Interior Firefighting standards,” said Mr. Addison. He pointed out the rest of the new firefighters have until July 2026 to be certified.
“In addition to the firefighter certification, our team does other training to keep us prepared to respond to emergencies in our area: live fire training, auto extrication training, pump operator training, first aid and first responder training with CPR,” continued Mr. Addison. “We have five firefighters certified as emergency first responders, mental health and PTSD training, driver training where our firefighters get DZ licences to operate the pumper and tanker trucks. We have two new DZ licenced drivers this year, Justin Harris and Chris Meloche. We now have seven DZ licenced drivers. This is by far the largest, best trained and dedicated team of firefighters we have ever had, and I am so proud of them.”
Firefighter Kyleen Robertson was presented with a five-year service pin to recognize her years of service.
“We also have a very special presentation, the Federal Exemplary Service Medal for 20 years of service to the Gore Bay Fire Department. Duncan Sinclair actually has 22 years of service, but we are finally getting to present his medal,” said Mr. Addison.
Mr. Hayden said in recognizing the fire department, “we remember two former fire chiefs we have lost in the past few years, Jack Colwell and Mike Steele. And my father (Bill) who is here tonight was a member of the fire department.”
Ms. Lewis finished the evening by saying, “these guys are awesome. Not only do these firefighters help our community but by being a part of this team they also help themselves grow and become better citizens for our communities.”
