The La Broquerie Fire Department will be getting a new Jaws of Life set to help them respond more swiftly to multiple vehicle collisions.

“We’ve been looking at these for a couple of years now and this year it worked out quite well,” notes Fire Chief Alain Nadeau who says he has been putting pressure on Council to make the purchase.

As Nadeau explains, the old set requires a bulky generator to receive power whereas the new one is completely electrical. Apparently, that discrepancy will make a huge difference on the scene of a crash.

Because their current jaws are so cumbersome and complicated, setting them up takes quite a bit of time; a factor that becomes problematic if there is more than one injured person trapped in more than one vehicle. Nadeau says it is not uncommon for vehicles to be 400 or 500 feet apart after a severe head-on collision.

“That makes it quite tricky because you have to work at one end and then move everything to the other end.” More maneuverable equipment, he says, will ensure everyone receives the care they need as quickly as possible.

Nadeau adds the new jaws are locally sourced, in Carman, and so can be easily repaired by the manufacturers without too much delay if something were to break.

Recognizing these merits, Deputy Reeve Ivan Normandeau says Council unanimously approved the $48,939.58 purchase in their most recent meeting. He says roughly half of that sum will come from the municipality’s general budget for 2020 and the other half will come from the one-time COVID-19 funding they received from the government late last month.

The fire department will be receiving their new device sometime in January.