Alberta volunteer fire department to resume service

The northern Albertan community of Wandering River expects to have its volunteer fire department partially back up and running by the end of June.

The department suspended operations June 3 over concerns about the large amount of work the small hamlet's seven female volunteer firefighters were handling.

The volunteers cover the hamlet, which is200 kilometres south of Fort McMurray, and a 128-kilometre stretch along northern Alberta's Highway 63, known as one of the most deadly roads in the province.

Sheri Johnson, the department's acting fire chief, said on average, there is one serious accident on the stretch of Highway 63 every week and most volunteers aren't capable of handlingwhat areoftentraumatic incidents.

"There are a lot of people who don't feel it's the volunteer's job to be scraping people up off the highway, which is what we've done a fair amount of," she said. "A lot of people just can't handle it."

Five new volunteers showed an interest in joining the department at a public meeting on Monday night.

The new volunteers, however,said they would only join if they don't have to handle traffic accidents along Highway 63, Johnson said.

"For now, we have taken Highway 63 off the table," she said. "We will not, when we are up and running again, be providing service on Highway 63.

"We will be doing just strictly fires within the community, medical first response within the community, but it won't be on Highway 63."

The volunteer fire department in Grassland, about 50 kilometres south of Wandering River, has taken over the emergency response in Wandering River since the suspension.