By Andrea Nicholl
The Lloydminster Rescue Squad is hoping the community will come to its rescue by funding a new squad truck.
The local Rescue Squad recently kicked off a fundraising campaign to raise $165,000 for a new 2010 Ford 550 4x4 rescue truck and 12–foot box.
Norm Namur, president of the Lloyd Rescue Squad, says the new truck is imperative to the delivery of services and without it lives could be lost or compromised.
“It’s so important. When we get paged we have to go, there is no ‘oh I hope our truck makes it’ kind of attitude. We have to be there,” he said.
“ If we don’t have the means to get to a call all the tools in the world aren’t going to do any good, so this is crucial to us.”
The proposed rescue truck will replace the old 1993 vehicle and join the 2002 Ford 4x4 number two rescue truck and command bus.
“Our goal is to have that truck on order by the end of June because that truck is going to take eight to 12 weeks to get built and put on the chassis. We’d really like to have that truck before September/October so that’s what we’re aiming for.”
Namur says the campaign is well underway, with support already coming from Husky, PWM Steel, the RM of Wilton and the RM of Britannia. While the tally sits at $53,840 Namur says there’s still a ways to go before they can order the truck and have it in their bay.
“We’re just trying to keep up with the times is what we’re doing. What we’re seeing right now is that we need more specialized equipment to get into the newer vehicles, so we just need to keep updating our equipment and as we update the equipment we need to go to bigger trucks and bigger boxes.”
The new rescue truck will be larger with a 12–foot box and be capable of carrying more weight and equipment. Namur says the truck’s design will also have a more current and safer design, meeting all new specs and regulations.
The Lloydminster Rescue Squad is a non-profit, 15-member emergency rescue service. The local squad has been operating and supporting residents of Lloydminster and the surrounding area for nearly 25 years through services including vehicle extrication, farm rescue, ice rescue, water rescue and search and rescue.
In addition to responding to over 100 calls a year, the service also provides lighting for investigating emergency scenes, traffic control for the RCMP and additional assistance to rescue squads throughout Saskatchewan.
All businesses are encouraged to make a donation to the Rescue Squad and those that pledge $5,000 or more will have their name displayed on the vehicle for the lifetime of the truck.
For more information, or to make a donation contact Namur or Gord Hart at the rescue hall at 306-825-9244.