By Cecilia Nasmith
Councillor Aaron Burchat took a few minutes at Monday's council meeting to thank the Cobourg Fire Department when they came through for him and his family.
As Coordinator of Protection Services, Burchat often shares their news, but this week he also shared a personal perspective.
“It's public knowledge that I did have an issue at my own residence,” he said.
It gave him personal scope for seeing how well-organized the command structure is and how professionally they do their work.
“I was receiving feedback at the end and throughout the process,” he said.
“No one wants to experience that kind of thing, but there were 25 firefighters and five trucks on the scene within six minutes and seven seconds from the time of call, which is very impressive, and they were able to make sure they did a thorough inspection and there was no issue.
“I want to thank the Cobourg Fire Department for an excellent job well done.”
Prior to offering his thanks, Burchat had shared year-to-date statistics for the department as of July 27 – 801 calls for service, 257 prevention and inspection activities, and 168 training activities.
“The fire department staff remain safe and healthy and response-ready,” Burchat stated.
“They continue to implement new COVID ways of operation to provide the best service for residents, with the goal of safety for staff and the people they are responding to.
“As they start to move back into individual-platoon hands-on training sessions, they have new safety precautions. They continue to source the proper personal protective equipment based on current call volume, and they are still in pretty good shape.”
Burchat also offered year-to-date stats for the building department as of the end of June – 156 building permits issued (including ones for 92 dwelling units) with an estimated construction value of more than $16.9-million, bringing in revenues of more than $218,000.
He also had stats for June alone – 20 building permits issued (four of them new dwelling units) with a construction value of more than $567,000.
