A backhoe makes quick work of demolishing the fire bays at the Kennetcook Volunteer Fire Hall, which were badly damaged by fire on Nov. 27.

KENNETCOOK: Two months after a fire left the Kennetcook Volunteer Fire Department homeless, the pieces for the rebuild began Jan. 28.

The fire occurred after a stolen car was set on fire behind the fire station.

The EHS ambulance bay and the community hall side of the building were unscathed with the exception of some wiring to the community hall. The wiring was fed from the fire hall side with the EHS bay on a separate service.

According to Steve White, secretary with the Kennetcook and District Fire Department, the cost to replace the fire hall damage is about $106,000. The tender has been awarded to a local contractor, Harold Campbell, from Kennetcook.

“We were pretty happy about that because we all know him well,” White said. “Hopefully, we can make a few small changes that we wanted before without any additional costs.”

Damage to the contents of the building was somewhere in the $10,000.00 - $12,000.00 range, White added.

The homeless fire department didn’t have far to look when it came to where they would locate their trucks while the rebuilding takes place.

“We were fortunate enough to be offered several garages to keep our trucks at Randall White Trucking, Kennetcook Trucking (Bob White) and other local Fire Departments,” White said. “We ended up keeping the two main trucks - the pumper and the tanker, at the Russell White Lumber Company garage.

“It’s roughly four kilometres north of our hall. This was the best arrangement for everyone because the garage was empty and not being used.

He noted that the Noel Fire Department provided space for the other pumper, which is normally used for grass and forest fires and EHS were good enough to offer their ambulance bay at the hall to house our Medical Fire Response Truck. Their ambulance is parked outside during their shift in Kennetcook and plugged in to provide their needs.

“We also store some of our equipment in their bay as well,” he added.

White said that the Fire Department is still fully operational, there has been a lot of adjusting.

“If there is a fire we head for the mill garage – medical, we go to the hall. At other times we need all vehicles and we respond to both halls,” White explained. “We all keep our bunker gear in our personal vehicles. A hockey bag works great for this, but its still pretty cold getting geared up beside the road.

“We took a spare room in the ambulance section for an office. We lost most of the radio equipment, but were readily offered whatever we needed from other departments and Nova Communications until we can get replacement radio equipment of our own. It’s just the little things that people don’t think about that adds up – like making new sets of keys for four different areas plus a neighbouring Fire Hall.”

The community has responded in earnest and White said the Department is grateful for it. A jamboree held two weeks ago raised $1,400 for the Fire Department. It was organized by Alice Hennigar, White said.

“We appreciate her efforts as well as the efforts of all the performers” he said. “Of course, the people who attended it cannot be forgotten. Insurance probably won’t cover everything so we are thrilled with whatever we can get.”

Early on, Kennetcook Fire Chief Martin Walsh and Deputy Chief Erick Russell spent countless hours meeting with the Insurance Company Adjuster and Broker on the matter and greatly appreciate everything they have done on our behalf.

“The entire Department has spent a lot of time sorting through the rubble to retrieve records, equipment and whatever else had to be saved and taken away for storage,” White added. “Although the shock of everything has diminished somewhat, a few people got a bit choked up when the excavator came in.”

White spoke with Harold Campbell on Jan. 27, and said he was unsure of a timeline when the rebuild will be done.

“He said the weather would be quite an issue because it would be possible to lose several days at a time and they all add up,” he noted.

White explained the fire fighters are content for now, but anxious to return to their home base.

“We can still do whatever we have to do,” White said. “Some things we have to do without – we can’t wash the trucks as many times as we would hope to for example.”

phealey@enfieldweeklypress.com