On April 21 to 23 / 2004 the watch staff and warden service at FOLNHSC held its annual spring fire training session.

This year, just to make things a little more interesting, a few new wrinkles were added to the structural training portion. For one thing, a live body was used as a fire victim rather than a stuffed dummy. This presented much greater extrication challenges to the rescue teams. Dragging a real person out of a building was a tough physical task. Total exhaustion seemed to be the order of the day by the time the safety of the outside was achieved.

Another innovation this year was to simulate a real call out procedure, that is, taking the situation in step by step fashion right from the initial finding of the fire through to extinguishing. This included meeting the immediate requirements of fire suppression action with only the two watch staff on duty. Additional watchmen were integrated into the ongoing suppression activities as they arrived on scene, which made for a smooth transition from a small two person operation to larger twelve to fourteen person operation in short order.

This year also marked the first time the PASS (Personal Alarm Safety System) devices were used. These units, which are attached to the fireman's Self Contained Breathing Apparatus

(SCBA), send out a very loud piercing alarm if the fireman wearing it becomes immobile for 30 seconds or more. Based on the training received from the Level 1 Firefighter course held last fall, an accountability system was used this year as well. This system accounts for all emergency personnel inside the fire scene and ensures no one goes missing in the hectic aftermath of something like a major fire scene. The final day was spent putting all of the wild land fire suppression equipment through the ropes.  

The three days were by all accounts a very valuable learning and training exercise. Many thanks to the guys for organizing and carrying out the whole thing, it was a job well done.

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The Historic Sites & Monuments Board of Canada held its spring meeting in Nova Scotia. Board members arrived on Cape Breton Island on June 21^st and stayed until June 25^th.  During their stay with us, they visited Marconi, NHS, the coal mining district in Glace Bay and Alexander Graham Bell, NHS.  They spent an enjoyable afternoon and evening at Louisbourg where they dined in period style and were entertained by Peter Chiasson and Steven LeFort.  A reception was also held with local heritage groups invited to meet the Board members.

Guide training took place the first two weeks of May and all went well. We thank Mark for his presentation on marketing the field unit and Blaine and Perry for delivering Compliance Training. This year staff from Marconi and Canso attended 2 days of our training and were very appreciative of the opportunity. Five students have been hired through FSWEP.

All artifacts are back in their exhibit cases in IDEAS and the study is presently undergoing spring cleaning and the return of the original "Owl"charcoal/pastel portrait Mabel did of Alec prior to their marriage.

The Alexander Graham Bell Museum Association, with the assistance of the Alexander Graham Bell Club, held its first Victorian Tea on May 23^rd to launch its 2004 membership campaign. A silver service tea/coffee with sandwiches and sweets greeted visitors in ORIENTATION. Visitors made goodwill donations and information on the Association was available with a chance to join for $10. And, a very special gift shop product was launched that being Mr. Bell's Original Raspberry Vinegar cordial. It's tasty with a sweet tartness all its own and all bottles available that day were sold.

The tourism class students from Baddeck Academy visited last week to learn about careers/jobs at this site and Parks Canada in general, and we assisted Baddeck and Area Business and Tourism Association with its staff training as it is in the process of independently hiring and funding staff at its visitor information centre in Baddeck.

Final arrangements are being made for promoting and delivering our Innovation Fund evening programs in July, August and September with our partners at the Highland Village, Gaelic College and local archivist, Joan MacInnis.

Graham Davies, Manager of Shore Operations - Caribbean and Atlantic, Princess Cruise Lines visited AGB and was very taken with Cape Breton Island on his sunny day trip that also included Fortress of Louisbourg and the Highland Village.

Staff has been hired and training is complete at Marconi and underway at Canso finishing next week. Training for the VIP survey at Canso will take place later in June. Both sites are open June 1^st and remain open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until September 15^th.

During training for Marconi staff an informative presentation was provided by the Glace Bay Historical Society.

Staff from Canso Islands, in conjunction with the Canso 400 celebrations, is hosting a kite making workshop at Fanning Education Centre and kites made that day by students will be flown in the "Go Fly a Kite" day during the summer.

Sincere condolences are offered to Eileen Burke on the death of her sister Gloria (Trimm) Campbell on June 15, 2004. Eileen along with her husband Michael and Gloria’s brother-in-law, John Hugh Campbell work at the Fortress.

....Georgina Leslie, the person hired to replace Anne O’Neill when she retires is here in Louisbourg. She participated in the Level I training the week of June 21^st and she enjoyed it immensely and looks forward to working and getting to know everyone at Louisbourg.

....that our year-to-date statistics are up by 2.6% as of June 28th.

Happy Canada Day!

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone wishing to submit an article to the Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Please forward to Donna MacNeil at donna.macneil@pc.gc.ca  or telephone 733-3551.