“The Amherst Fire Department will, under the direction of its chief and by the means of its members, commit to providing residents with the most capable fire and emergency service possible, while promoting safety and quality of life.”
That’s the mission statement of the Amherst Fire Department and one that the 54-member department works hard to live up to.
“As the chief of this department, I take great pride in the way the members tackle issues and situations, and plan and deliver service to the public no matter when the call comes in,” Fire Chief Greg Jones said recently.
Nov. 15-22, 2020, is Municipal Awareness Week in the Town of Amherst. The article below is the second of four outlining the role of some of the town’s departments.
They’ve each sworn to serve and protect. They’re the men and women of the Amherst Police Department.
“For each of us the greatest satisfaction in life comes from helping others, especially those whose life has not been so kind,” Police Chief Dwayne Pike says. “Every day we put on our uniform we have an opportunity to help others.”
Did you know that Amherst has 73 kilometres of streets? Or 36 kilometres of sidewalks? Or 40 kilometres of storm sewer lines?
The folks at the Town of Amherst’s Operations Department do. And they work hard year-round to ensure these important pieces of infrastructure function properly.
But taking care of the streets, sidewalks and storm sewers isn’t all they do.
Amherst is all geared up for whatever Old Man Winter has in store for us this season, says Jason MacDonald, the town’s Deputy CAO-Operations.
The town’s 13 full-time and six seasonal operators are ready to work and its fleet of equipment – three loaders with snowplows attached, two snowplow trucks, two salt trucks, three sidewalk snowblowers, two backhoes and one loader-mounted snowblower – has been prepared to meet the blizzards whenever they hit.