Wes Campbell, Director with the Battle River Community Foundation Board, presents a cheque to Assistant Chief Jim Bowie, along with Assistant Chief Adrian Tobler. The Battle River Community Foundation awarded a $2,500 grant to the Rosalind Volunteer Fire Department Association.
According to Assistant Chief Jim Bowie, “The Rosalind Volunteer Fire Department would like to thank the Battle River Community Foundation for there generosity over many years that has allowed our department to purchase equipment that would otherwise not be available to us to help serve and protect our community.”
The Rosalind Volunteer Fire Department will be using its grant money to purchase a thermal imaging camera. This piece of equipment has a number of uses, including in search and rescue. Thermal imaging cameras see heat signatures through smoke, darkness, and other obstacles, allowing fire fighters to see where civilians may be trapped or where other fire fighters are located.
Thermal imaging cameras can also tell fire fighters where there are lingering hot spots and embers within a structure, so they don’t have to tear into the structure unnecessarily, limiting potential damage. As well, these cameras can help firefighters find the source of the fire and are also valuable in spotting hazardous materials in structures and even car wrecks.
The Village of Rosalind is very happy to have a Volunteer Fire Department as, otherwise, the village and the surrounding area would have to wait for fire fighting services from Camrose in the case of an emergency. The department consists of 14 volunteers who train together every second Thursday. While the department does handle structural fires, it also trains to handle fires in the surrounding agricultural area, such as bush fires, equipment fires, and other farm incidents.
The grant for the Rosalind Volunteer Fire Department Association is provided by the Rosalind Community Fund, the Bernard Vos Memorial Fund, and the Joe and Rosamond Burkard Fund.
The Battle River Community Foundation exists to support organizations in east central Alberta that benefit the local communities and positively impact the future.
Grants from the Battle River Community Foundation are primarily made possible through the generosity of individual donors and organizations that have created endowment funds. The principal of these endowment funds is kept intact, and the income is made available annually to support local projects and organizations.
Since it was founded in 1995, the Battle River Community Foundation has granted over $10,469,392 to support charitable activities in the Battle River Region.