Finding the silver lining in the rain clouds

It is devastating and heartbreaking to see the people affected by the losses from the wildfires in Nova Scotia. And it is heartwarming and inspiring to see the response from caring people who want to make a difference.

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
After three days of rain and amassive wildfire, and Shelburne County is still
considered not of control, but there'sa lot more optimism that we're heading in
the right direction, not just inthe case of these fires, but also
as a community and as a provinceunited. I had the privilege of witnessing
the work of volunteers stepping in tooffer support and service the people facing a
long road towards regrouping and rebuilding,and it makes me hopeful for the future.

(00:26):
For the first time in a longtime, I met a group of
young men last night from the ChurchillGunning Cove area of Shelburne County, and
they all looked like they'd have beencompletely at home on the rolling deck of
a lobster boat. But this wason the apparatus floor of their three bay
fire station, and it was aboutan hour after sunset, and they came
in to check on the station beforeheading home to get some rest after days
of fighting the wildfire. At leastone of them had no home to go

(00:49):
to now. Only one of themwas a member of that smaller rural department,
and I was told they had onlyhad a couple of dozen people who
had taken the time to join andtrain and practice. The story was that
shared that all four had defied theorders to evacuate when the wall of fire
was creeping closer to the homes oftheir families and friends and neighbors. And
we'd heard about them before we wereeven assigned to sit in in their hall

(01:10):
overnight, and event the fires rekindledor there was any other fire related emergency
that broke out, these were peoplewho chose to stay and fight as the
wall of flames claimed the buildings andscortched the roads, and one of them
lost his garage, but still wentto help protect the neighboring homes with limited
resources. He later returned to findout his own place became one of the
casualties as they fought to save others. Now late on a Sunday night,

(01:34):
people were thankful and grateful for whatthey had, and even if they'd lost
the material things they'd built up overa lifetime, they still had each other
and the support of the entire province. And there were half a dozen portable
pumps from the Coastguard on the stationfloor, signs of a long, hard
battle against the elements, and therewere fridges full of sandwiches and soups,
and countertops filled with snacks and nutritionbars and personal supplies everywhere, from socks

(01:59):
and underwear to aspiranam band aids.There were the signs of support around them,
and literal signs made by kids thankingthey're heroes. I think we're going
to see some of these young menjoin the fire service, or at least
the three who weren't already, andno doubt after seeing the need for support,
there will be others who will hearthe call. My phone rang last
week from someone we've had in ourlives as a professional, and he had

(02:23):
a few questions about the fire service. Now. His brother is a retired
police officer from Halifax and the twoof them had gone down to support some
of the evacuees at the Canada GameCenter and his question, are there age
or physical requirements to becoming a volunteerfirefighter? And my answer was yeah for
some jobs, but if you wantto help, regardless of age or ability,

(02:43):
someone will find a job that youcan do. And after years of
struggling to find new recruits, Ithink people now recognize the need and the
value in volunteering and it's making mealmost as relieved as a sound of the
rein of the roof over the lastfew days. I'm Sheldon McLeod for salt
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