10/13/2026
This year has brought a lot of change and improvement to Assiniboia Fire Rescue. As some of you may have noticed, we have been hard at work the last few months, finishing and painting our training ground structure. It is located at 103 Leeville Street North just over the tracks. This project has been in the works for the better part of a decade, started by Chief Rust at the time and carried over by Chief Lacelle upon Rust’s retirement. It started with the purchase of three sea-cans that were anchored, stacked and welded into the three story structure we have today. Inside we have an interior door between the two bottom sea cans and a metal staircase leading to the second floor. At the top of the stairs is another outside access door leading to the balcony and another metal staircase leading to the roof. We have an egress window on the West end which allows us to enter from the ground level on ladders or placement of our ladder truck to work on patient egress or escape. Inside the second story is our burn bin. We use square bales and pallets to build our live fire scenarios and then practice nozzle placement, flow and spray patterns. We have manually operated vents that allow us to quickly cool or vent the structure to control temperature and visibility inside the structure. There is an external set of stairs leading from the second level down to the ground. The multiple stairs give us the ability to train different scenarios including inside/outside as well as entering the structure from multiple entry points. We also have built a reinforced doorway with a steel frame and door that allows us to practice forced entry techniques. We are also able to practice search and rescue techniques on multiples levels and zero visibility situations. The whole structure gives us a safe and, as close to, real fire feel for heat and visibility. A fresh coat of paint was recently completed on the outside. The fence was repaired or replaced around the yard for safety and security as well as new lighting for the yard.
We also have just recently moved our Stars landing pad out to the town property immediately north of our training grounds. Our landing zone (LZ) was located at the fairgrounds beside the grandstand. While this location served us very well for years, it was located in a very well used area by our residents. The dog park, ball diamonds, Wildlife Hall and Agriplex are in close proximity to the LZ . This has caused some issues over the years as we must close down the road and ask residents to leave the area for the safety and privacy of the emergency crews on scene. This year the road leading past the fairgrounds was rebuilt so we needed to find a temporary site to use. Through some discussions and very quick response from the Town, Rm’s and Stars themselves, we built a new landing pad with an asphalt surface on town property away from the recreation area of the fairgrounds. The town had the pad built up to level and an anonymous donation paid for the asphalt. We still have some landscaping and finish work to complete in the area but we have already used it twice in the first week it was built. Thanks to all the parties involved for making this happen so quickly and building a clean, mud free area to access in all situations. And please just a friendly public service announcement to our residents. While the presence of Stars in our area is always impressive to watch, we remind you that this is an emergency scene. Please don’t stop along the road to watch or take pictures. These are patients and first responders from our area so please respect their privacy.
The list of businesses, residents, Rm’s and the Town that have donated time, equipment and money is very long. Money raised from banquets, bbq’s and other fundraisers have made this dream of our departments a reality. Our department thanks everyone for their support in giving us a place to practice our skills and learn new ones. Our plan is to be able to start training alongside other departments from the area, that will only ensure that our neighboring departments are trained and have experience in multiple scenarios. We are also thinking of an open house sometime after seeding in the new year to allow people to check out the structure and LZ
