ST. PAUL – The St. Paul Fire Department has received $10,000 toward the fire-rescue training facility it has been working on courtesy of TC Energy.
On June 1, TC Energy made the announcement and toured the training facility being constructed at the County of St. Paul Public Works site.
TC Energy is a multinational company that runs liquid pipelines from as far as Fort McKay all the way down to Mexico City in Mexico. “One quarter of all natural gas in North America goes through our pipelines,” said Adam Romano, TC Energy’s area manager for the Wood Buffalo area, which includes the area north of St. Paul to the northern border of Alberta.
According to Romano, many of its technicians work and live in communities all over Alberta, and St. Paul was no exception. For example, “Andy [Skoreyko] works for TC and moves all over our system in Wood Buffalo, but he calls St. Paul home.”
“We had the opportunity to donate some money,” said Romano, and Skoreyko, who knew the firefighting crew in St. Paul, “pointed out that this project was happening” and that a donation could help speed it up.
“[Skoreyko] got the ball rolling and he really made it happen,” said Romano, “and we were happy to be able to support it.”
According to Romano, the donation came from what TC Energy salvaged from a project. “We rely on these services just like any other citizen in the area,” such as the St. Paul Fire Department, “and it’s important to us that we can give back whenever possible.”
Fire Chief Trevor Kotowich said the funding “ensured this project can come to completion this year.”
Without the funding donated, the project would have taken approximately another 18 months to two years to complete, he said. “Everything you see here has been donated by companies, fundraising through our membership, and then built by our membership.”
He reiterated the donation by TC Energy will help ensure the training facility becomes operational this fall of 2023.
The training facility will be able to satisfy the training requirements to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, its certifications taking 18 months to complete. NFPA’s certification is an international certification, which also allowed firefighters in St. Paul to respond to wildfires.
In addition, another benefit to having the fire department’s training facility is that it satisfies the requirements for live fire training. “Right now, we have to send them out twice a year” outside the community to Bonnyville or Vermilion, said Kotowich for example, which costs time and money.
With the St. Paul Fire Department having its new fire training facility, the firefighters would also be closer to home and have less time away from their families. It would also serve other departments within the County of St. Paul. “So, all those firefighters from within the County will be coming here for their live fire training.”
Also, St. Paul currently does not have the facility to simulate live fire, said Kotowich, which is a crucial component of the overall fire training. The new training facility will be able to provide live fire simulation through pressurized fuel. “It’s going to be natural gas fires, which is clean energy – we’re not going to be harming the environment.”
Natural Gas and Pipeline: Outlook
Speaking of natural gas and pipelines, when asked of the industry’s outlook in the area, Romano said, “it’s an unpredictable market."
Romano also spoke of oil sands development which would potentially also help the natural gas industry grow by putting more capacity requirements on its lines.
He explained the main customer for natural gas are the oil sands development areas, thus development of oil sands helps the development of the natural gas industry as well.
For TC Energy, it’s also looking at projects in the area like a big carbon capture storage network currently at its development phase. In the future, TC Energy is hoping to use electricity to push its gas down the pipelines, instead of using gas turbines, which would be “making the system a little bit greener,” said Romano.
“We're looking forward to what the future brings, and we see some good opportunities to participate in some of the greener part parts of the energy industry.”
