Yarmouth fire department getting $250,000

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Yarmouth's fire department is getting a cash infusion from the provincial government.

Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt was at the fire hall Friday to present a check for $250,000. The money is an extension of the province's Emergency Service Providers Fund, a fund that totaled $8 million.

When that money was handed out the Yarmouth fire department's application was left out. Hurlburt said the money for Yarmouth is the product of the town's fire committee, Chief Ken Kelly and the volunteers working together to make it happen.

Kelly said the money would go towards much needed renovations for the building including work on both the volunteer and staff sides of the facility, improvements to the ceiling and upstairs of the building and fire separation issues. Kelly said construction would start soon.

"This will make a big difference," said Kelly. "We'll upgrade (the building) and modernize it. There's quite a few areas that we're looking at so I would say that it will extend the use of the building as a result of it."

The ability to bring the building up to code and to a standard that will allow it to serve the community for some time was important, said Mayor Charles Crosby. Crosby said the town has put away money each year with its budget for some time in preparation for this day. Now that it's here, he said, the fire department can get the work it needs without having to consider a huge capital project.

"We're looking at either $600,000 or $5-6 million," said Crosby. "By fixing this up, this is going to last us another 20 years . . . I think we're getting a good bang for our dollars . . . and by doing that we're saving the tax payers a lot of money."