When a fire chief in rural Nova Scotia came across a post about a fire department in rural Saskatchewan losing everything in a fire, he knew his department had to do something. Matthew Mundle, the fire chief in Shinimicas, N,.S.
, decided the answer was to donate a fire truck. On the Canada Day weekend, the truck made its way toward Archerwill, Sask., a village of roughly 150 people located about 300 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
Mundle is familiar with how devastating the loss of fire equipment can be for a small community. His fire hall in Cumberland County burned in 2020 with the loss of three fire trucks. After the fire, his department bought a used pumper and borrowed enough equipment to get by.
Slowly, the department was able to rebuild. It was decided earlier this year the used pumper was no longer needed and put up for sale. Plans changed after Shinimicas learned of Archerwill's plight.
"We've recovered well and now we have a beautiful station, we have nice trucks," Mundle said. "We brought it to a meeting with the membership and the proposal was ..
. we don't sell it anymore and we tell them they can have it." The donated fire truck left Nova Scotia on Friday on its way to Saskatchewan.
(Shinimicas Fire Department) Mundle went back online and found a phone number for the Rural Municipality of Barrier Valley, where Archerwill is located. The municipality, which has a population of about 500 people, put him in touch with Steven Christianson, Archerwill's fire chief. On F.
