Subject: VE2LSQ's column for May MarcOgram

                       West Island Mutual Aid System
                           How a system was born

  From the southwest border of the City of Montreal to the western end of
Beaconsfield there are a group of municipal fire services that make up the
West Island mutual aid system.  There are nine different municipal fire
services that covers twelve different municipalities.  Beaconsfield and
Kirkland is serviced by Pointe Claire and Ile Bizard is serviced by
Pierrefonds. 

  Together these municipalities form a major fire-fighting task force that
is used many times to battle major outbreaks.  This system was formed
believe it or not on News Years Eve 1977 at the corner of Belec and
Bouvier streets in Ville LaSalle.  Chief Aquin of the LaSalle Fire Service
had a major conflagration rolling through a row of two story duplexes.. 
-45 F degree temperatures were taking its toll on the existing mutual aid
group (Verdun, LaSalle, Lachine and Kahnawake) so Chief Aquin summoned
help from other surrounding municipalities (Dorval, Pointe Claire,
Pierrefonds, Dollard des Ormeaux, Montreal West and Ville St. Pierre)
arrived within the half hour and the fire was contained to eight
structures.  At the time I was serving in the local civil defence group
and we worked alongside of the fire services at many outbreaks and on that
night I remember seeing the chiefs from each of the cities on scene
standing and commenting how good everyone worked well together.  Chief
Aquin told them they should seriously meet to set up a permanent system
and keep fire losses to a minimum in each others city.  Hence a few
meetings to work out the details and Voila!, the West Island Fire Chiefs
Mutual Aid Group.  Meetings or not, I can still picture the huddle of
white helmets in the middle of the street on New Years Eve.  That is where
the system was formed in reality.  It is just too bad that large scale
destruction has to occur in order to get the various fire services to talk
to each other and pre-plan fire systems.  I got to see fire service
history in the making locally on that night.  Even though the LaSalle
disaster of 1965 and the Monsanto explosion of 1968 brought multiple
cities to aid, nothing was talked about keeping these groups together as a
regular system.  It was the determination of Chief Pierre Aquin of LaSalle
that put the wheels in motion.  Pierre was a personal friend of mine and I
wonder what the fire services would be like today if he was still alive. 
The present system came into its present form just before Pierre passed
away and I know if he was still here, there would be much more progress in
the emergency fire services in the West Island. 

Pointe Claire  		412.1875
(Kirkland - Beaconsfield)
Verdun         		156.150
Dorval         		151.160   
Montreal West  		155.730
Pierrefonds    		159.300
(Ile Bizard)
Dollard        		159.300
St. Pierre     		156.030
LaSalle        		412.5125
Lachine        		153.830
(Shared with Public Works)

Updates:
Urgence Sante West Sector 4 (10-54) 858.8625 Mhz. Now takes in
Verdun/Ville Emard/Cote St. Paul

Urgence Sante Central-East Sector 5 (10-56) 853.5875 Mhz. (East of
Downtown area, west of Viau Blvd.)

Note from Vern: I inadvertently left out the St Leonard fire department
last month.  It can be found on 412.2875 Mhz. 

73 de Fred VE2LSQ