The Mayor for Ritchot might soon be donning turnout gear at fire calls in the municipality. Chris Ewen says he has always been interested in being a firefighter and now he is pursuing that opportunity.

Ewen recently spent a day at the Manitoba Emergency Services College in Brandon. He was there with 15 other elected officials and Chief Administrative Officers from the province, learning what it takes to run a fire hall. The day included classroom work and hands-on training. Ewen says a volunteer firefighter from the St. Adolphe area told him about the opportunity and so he decided to give it a try.

"It was very, very interesting and I have such a high respect for the emergency services already, it just made it even higher," says Ewen.

Ewen calls it an eye-opening experience. He says trying equipment such as a thermal imaging camera gave him a greater understanding of some of the helpful tools out there. He says thanks to this course, he is now better informed to make decisions when the fire department approaches council with its wish list.

Ewen says one thing he learned through the course is how much post-trauma there is following an emergency call. Ewen says from firefighters to paramedics, everyone is impacted. As mayor, he would like to spread awareness that there is help available.

Ewen says through this experience, he has decided to pursue being a volunteer firefighter for the Ile des Chenes department. He has already made his intentions known to the municipality's legal team, Chief Administrative Officer and Fire Chief.

"I just want to make sure that there's no conflict," says Ewen. "The municipal legal said that there isn't a conflict, I'm just going to go through the steps and make sure that our administration and our Fire Chief is ok with it as well."

Ewen says their fire departments do a great job and he would love to help out in any way he can. Ewen says because he is mayor, he is around Ritchot most of the time and would often be available during the daytime when it seems most difficult to find volunteer firefighters to attend calls.

If he ends up pursuing this dream, Ewen says he would probably begin training in fall. He notes it could take another six months before he would be ready to respond to calls. Ewen says if he is re-elected this October, he would then want council's opinion on the matter because it could mean missing a meeting or two during training.