Islands and District fire department holds reopening ceremony

“This is a great day for us,” said John Surette, the Islands and District fire chief. “We’ve had a long and at times frustrating year. We’ve had a lot of people work really hard to get us to where we are today.”

Addressing those who turned out for the Nov. 17 ceremony on a sunny but chilly afternoon, he expressed appreciation to everyone who contributed in some way to helping the department recover from the blaze that gutted the inside of its fire hall last year.

“We are grateful to you and we thank you,” he said.

He noted that the assistance the department received in the wake of the fire was not limited to the local area.

“We received help from basically all over the province, which was fantastic,” he said.

Political representatives on hand for the occasion said the fire department’s recovery is a great illustration of what can be accomplished when a community gets together.

“This is a wonderful example of community involvement,” said Argyle Warden Aldric d’Entremont, who recalled attending the Islands and District department’s annual meeting on Nov. 5, 2006, which included a special event commemorating the department’s 25th anniversary.

A joyous occasion marking a quarter-century of fire protection, that event was held just eight days before the fire that dealt what department officials recently described as a “devastating blow” that crippled the department “to the point that we were inoperative.”

During that meeting on Nov. 5, ’06, Warden d’Entremont presented the department with a certificate recognizing its 25th anniversary.

“I guess that was lost in the fire,” he said during Saturday’s reopening, “so I’m replacing it with a new one.”

On hand to make a similar presentation on behalf of the province was Argyle MLA and cabinet minister Chris d’Entremont, who, like other speakers, noted how the community rallied to rebound from the fire, not only rebuilding but improving its fire hall.

West Nova MP Robert Thibault recalled that when he got the news of the Islands and District fire, he was in the Annapolis Valley attending an event for firefighters there and he was struck by how they responded.

“They all pledged to lend any equipment necessary (to help the Islands and District department),” he said. “So (the reopening of the fire hall) is more than a celebration of this small community. It’s a celebration, I think, of the full Nova Scotia community.”

Earl Muise, the Islands and District department’s administrative chair – who served as MC for Saturday’s reopening – made a point of thanking the Amirault’s Hill-Hubbard’s Point fire department for the service it provided while the Islands and District department was in the recovery process.