New fire hall in La Broquerie is a dream-come-true

There was a good crowd on hand Thursday evening in La Broquerie to celebrate the grand opening of the new fire hall. 

“It’s amazing,” says fire chief Alain Nadeau. “What a turnout! The support we’ve had from our community, from our council, it’s been so amazing the past few years. We’re so luck in La Broquerie here, we’re very lucky.” 

Reeve Ivan Normandeau says it’s a beautiful facility for the firefighters to work from. 

“It's a long time coming for these people,” he says. “And just to reiterate the fact that these guys are heroes. They leave home in the middle of the night (to respond to calls), and they go to work the next day at 8:00 AM, no problem. So, they're truly good heroes and I'm really proud to have them. We have such a great staff here in La Broquerie and I'm certainly proud of them.”

This is the first time La Broquerie has had a fire hall that was built specifically for this purpose. 

“It’s great,” says Normandeau. “I think we’re good for hopefully 50 years, and it's great for the whole RM because now the people from Marchand are able to get a discount under insurance so I think it's great for everyone. It's a win-win.” 

Deputy Reeve Laurent Tetrault recalls the history of fire service in the municipality. 

“I don’t know if you’ll believe it, but I was around when we had the first fire hall in ‘78 and we bought our first truck in ‘77,” he says. “I was the CEO of the municipality at that time and to see what happened today (Thursday) is just incredible. It's like a dream come true. We started with the 1954 International from the fire department in Winnipeg, and now brand-new truck, brand new fire hall, and I think it's a great project for the whole municipality, and we're the envy of this province.” 

Chief Nadeau says the whole crew appreciates finally having a flag flying outside their fire hall. 

“It’s the first time that we have a flag at the fire hall,” he explains. “The kids have been wanting a flag for years and years, never had one. And now with this new fire hall, we're going with the flag. So, right now, what we did is we raised the flag with all the chiefs that were from right from the beginning. First was Gilbert Tetrault (Chief from 1979-1992) and then it was Fern Boily (Chief from 1992-1995) and then Gisele Gauthier represented Lionel Gauthier (Chief from 1995-2005) who just passed away, and I'm presently chief. So, we all raised the flag together. It was very special.”

-With files from Adi Loewen