The 737 Fire Department which serves RM of Lomond #37 and the RM of Souris Valley #7 recently expanded the options that they had when it comes to putting out fires.

The change was thanks to a $10,000 donation from Top Notch Farm Supply, a retailer based out of Filmore.

The donation was used to purchase a side-by-side quad and a trailer to transport said quad.

The fire chief of the 737 fire department Glen Walkeden says that the purchase came from an experience the department had while out on a call.

"In the spring of 2021, we were involved in a mutual aid call out to the Halbrite area in a pretty rough pasture area that was on fire. So we went out to the call, the mutual aid, they had a side by side out in the pasture fighting fires," said Walkeden, "We found that with our trucks between the terrain and the hazardous rocks it was hazardous both to the equipment and our people. At that point, we decided we would start getting bids on side-by-sides to help fight fires."

The donation that came in from Top Notch helped out the fire department and was considered due to a connection the two organizations had.

"Top Notch approached us earlier that they had some funds that were available due to selling some fungicide product that there was an incentive to give to communities," said Walkeden, "The deputy fire chief is actually a part of Top Notch Sales."

That new equipment will not only improve the fire department's response to fires in rough terrain but should also keep the firefighters safe, says Walkeden.

"When we get into these fires that are out in the pasture between the rocks and the other hazardous terrain whether there are washouts or gulleys, that just makes it so that no one's having to walk as much," said Walkeden, "It makes it so that we can respond faster to the fire, be able to get into terrain that we wouldn't be able to get into with the trucks, and keep our firefighters safe, and be a better fire department with that equipment."

Even with the newest improvement, Walkeden says that they're looking to improve the fire department even further, this time focusing on some of the volunteers.

"We're looking at going into structure fire in time, we're still a relatively new fire department so we're getting all of our volunteers trained up," said Walkeden.