2023 was a busy year for Morden Fire Rescue (MFR).
Chief Andy Thiessen says they responded to a total of 148 calls. Unfortunately, Thiessen says those calls did include some structural losses, but the large majority of them were household alarms.
"Alarm systems are, they're a mechanical beast, and we hope they work 100%, but they don't normally do that all the time," said Thiessen. "There are some failures in those regards, and we went to a lot of, most people will call them 'false alarms.' There's nothing 'false alarm' for us. It's always a call of some sort. "
Continued training and the addition of 6 recruits last summer also kept MFR busy.
"Right now, they're heavily involved with the firefighter Level One course that takes all winter, with testing happening next summer. Yeah, it's busy around here as far as training, and getting people on board, and all that kind of stuff, it's exciting for us."
With the new members, Thiessen says MFR has a full complement of 39 firefighters.
2023 also saw the department move into its new expansion at the hall. Thiessen said it allows them to house all of their equipment in one area.
"We've got a spot for our tanker, and a future bay for a replacement pumper which is going to be coming in a couple of years," said Thiessen.They also started the development of a Wellness room in the new expansion. "Which, on the mental side of our taking care of ourselves, it's come into play a couple of times already this year. It's one of those things you think is going to benefit you and you build it, and you don't know what's all going to come out of it, but it kind of blows you away when it's being used more often than not."
~ With files from Robyn Wiebe ~