On Sunday, September 10 make sure you take a moment to thank our local firefighters'.

It is the first time as a nation that Canada will pay tribute to the men and women that keep our communities, families, and wildlife safe. The First Firefighters' National Memorial Day is an opportunity to recognize the life and death situations firefighters across the country are placed in on a daily basis.

Airdrie- Banff, MP Blake Richards, has great respect for those who choose to put others' safety first. "When you think about situations that are dangerous where we all want to be getting out of the situation they are the people rushing in to try and save people. It takes an immense amount of bravery and something we all need to be thankful for."

Richards, may have a deeper appreciation as he once served, himself, as a volunteer firefighter. "I spent a number of years as a volunteer back before I got into politics and it was something that was a great experience. An opportunity to serve the community in a different kind of a way, a chance to get some good training, and obviously to be able to help some people in some really difficult situations and get through some tragic circumstances whether it be traffic accidents or house fires."

Cochrane Fire Chief, David Humphrey, was pleased the federal government is providing an opportunity to recognize firefighters across Canada. "It is especially close to heart as I think a day like this recognizes volunteer firefighters, paid on-call firefighters, casual, or career firefighters across Canada that have lost their lives whether in the line of duty or those that possibly suffer from medical conditions that can come about from work in the fire service around fumes and toxic gases."

Another big component for the Chief, is recognizing all first respondents equally. National police and nursing day's are already celebrated and he is thrilled to see fire services added to the list. "To recognize firefighters on their own day, much like the policing day, is really important to the country and I think citizens should be proud of the work firefighters do in the community."

More than putting out blazes, our local firefighters are often first on scene at traffic collisions, perform vehicular extrication, river/ice rescues, as well as provide education for our community's youngest members. In a smaller centre like Cochrane, our firefighters are trained to handle anything that is thrown at them. "Our firefighters are exposed to all of the conditions they have during an emergency response, where in larger centres a lot of them are specialty units where they have a particular type of call they go on. More importantly is the fact that many people start out in this industry as volunteers in their communities and then go on to become career people so to recognize them for all of that work and the hazards and pitfalls that can become apparent at an emergency scene is really important."

Cochrane was protected by volunteer firefighters up until 2009/10 and now employs a full time crew bolstered by casual members, chief and assistant chief, as well as two safety code/fire prevention officers.

While Cochrane Fire Services will not necessarily host anything special on Sunday the tenth, the flags will fly at half-mast to remember those who have lost their lives in the line of duty or a related cause. Best way to help them celebrate is come down on Saturday (September 9) have a few flapjacks, salute the department, and have an opportunity to meet the men and women in Cochrane who put our safety first.

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