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New digs on the way for Arviat Fire Department

Hamlet set to have new fire hall in near future right near hamlet office
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Arviat Mayor Joe Savikataaq Jr. says the community will benefit greatly from a new fire hall being planned. Photo courtesy of Joe Savikataaq Jr.

Although there have been no exact dates released just yet, plans are in the works that will see a brand new fire hall constructed in Arviat.

Arviat Mayor Joe Savikataaq Jr. said compared to other infrastructure, the current fire hall is one of the oldest buildings in town that is still in use.

Savikataaq said the Government of Nunavut (GN) foots the bill for new fire halls in each community.

He said the community will benefit greatly from having the new building.

The site has been selected now, said Savikataaq. It's right near our hamlet office and we'll be looking into everything in further detail in the near future.

It will be strategically placed there, so it has direct access to the airport in case there's an emergency and it's connected to the roads going to the major areas of town,

Savikataaq said he's not sure of the exact price tag on the new building, but it won't be cheap.

He said everything is expensive now, especially new construction projects.

We haven't really advertised the construction of the building yet to the community. We're waiting on confirmation from the GN on what the building will look like and how big it will be. Then we'll roll it all out and let the people know.

We're really not sure of the details quite yet, other than we know this is going to happen for sure.

The firefighters, themselves, are definitely looking forward to being in a new fire hall. They're a very dedicated group of folks there at the Arviat Fire Department. They put their lives on the line and do a lot of training so that they'll be prepared in case of an emergency.

Firefighters are a very important part of Arviat, along with our search-and-rescue members.

Savikataaq said the Arviat Fire Department responds very quickly to emergency calls.

He said they're on-site in an extremely short amount of time.

Maybe sometimes people don't realize that they're just volunteers like anyone else. They take time away from their families to attend to the needs of people, as well as for their training.

As for the new fire hall, the bigger, the better. We're looking forward to the building's construction.

There will be no issues with parking at the new building and they'll be able to respond to calls very, very quickly, no matter where the fire is.



About the Author: Darrell Greer, Local Journalism Initiative

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