Fire Chief for the town of Niverville will be extending his stay for three more years.

Keith Bueckert has been Fire Chief for eleven years and at last month's town council meeting, it was noted that Bueckert and his two deputies, Brad Wasilinchuk and Stan Hiebert, had their contracts extended until the end of 2026.

Bueckert says they usually only hire him one year at a time and explains why.

“The town made a contract with us for, actually, three years, as we go through the new fire hall project and the new tanker purchase, and so they decided that they wanted to keep us on for three years to sort of steer the ship through this new project.”

Talk of a new firehall coming to the town has been brewing for several years, but with this extension of their leadership roles, Bueckert says, a new facility could be coming in the near future.

He adds the monies raised at their 10th annual Niverville Fire & EMS perogy supper back in November, were put toward items that would need to be purchased for the new hall.

“We're trying to figure out what we're all going to need at the new fire hall that might not be covered. So, we're going to try to start fundraising for some of these items that would be beyond our normal capital expenses.”

In response to the extension of their contract, Bueckert says, “This is new, so it'll be interesting. It's usually been year by year here in town, so would have a three-year commitment is good.”  

Bueckert says they are excited about the new tanker which has also been ordered, to arrive in 2025 and it would be great to have a new fire hall to park it in.

Something else Bueckert is hoping will get resolved this year is the future of the Medical First Response (MFR) service. A program that has been running in the town for more than 20-years. This program is community-based, whose purpose is to provide pre-hospital care before the ambulance shows up. Its future remains uncertain thanks to a 2023 announcement by the College of Paramedics.

“I know we've had these conversations in the past regarding the College of Paramedics and Manitoba Health trying to come up with something to make it easier for us to retain and recruit members for the fire, and also for the MFR program that we provide here in town.”

He continues, “We are hoping that sometime this month, we will hear from the province regarding some direction that they're going to be able to provide us regarding if we choose to stay with the program we have right now or go to a different program that doesn't have us with the College of Paramedics and we would work with Manitoba Health.”

Bueckert noted recently that Niverville Fire and EMS average’s well over 200 medical calls a year.

All in all, Bueckert says, talk of a new fire is exciting, they are looking forward to the new tanker and the resolution from the College of Paramedics 

“So, it'll be a busy year with trying to get all those projects started up.”