The Dryden Fire Service has come up with a new way to raise some money for a peer support program and to improve its critical incident stress management debriefing room, a calendar featuring its team.

Fire Chief Chris Wood explains the idea came about as a number of photos had been taken at training events and other incidents.

“We realized we had a really good collection of great photos and why not put them together in a calendar, and we’ve also identified some public safety messaging in our calendar.”

Wood notes support has been very strong with almost half of the first run of calendars sold already, with the ability to print more.

If their current stock sells out it will raise a thousand dollars, but the goal Wood says is to continually raise funds for enhancements to the room, which offers members a place to debrief and defuse after what he calls “tough calls”.

The calendar is just one of several initiatives to raise money, with another $1700 coming from a penny auction for members featuring items donated by local businesses.

Wood wants to continue the calendars into 2025 and with a number of training opportunities lined up for this year, he believes there will definitely be content.

“These are the critical times, and as long as we have somebody with a camera, we can continually take some of these pictures and I think its important that our citizens see what we do, how we do it, and how important it is to us.”

Calendars can be purchased for $20 at the Dryden Public Library, Fire Hall #1, or by emailing the Dryden Fire Service at dryfire@dryden.ca.