Photos by Mary Hankey
Port Hawkesbury volunteer firefighters looked after the ladder truck and water supply from the 2,000 gallon tank at the water shuttle exercise held over the weekend on Riverside Road. Trucks from several local fire departments were involved in the exercise which was hosted by the West Bay Road and District Volunteer Fire Department.
Water was pumped from Petrie’s Brook, which was then taken to the discharge site during the water shuttle exercise. Fire Departments from West Bay Road, Isle Madame, Port Hastings, Port Hawkesbury, St. Peter’s, Louisdale, along with volunteers from Grand River and Valley Mills, were involved in exercise on Sept. 18, hosted by the Strait Area Mutual Aid Association.
The tankers for the water shuttle exercise were filled at Petrie’s Brook dry hydrant on Riverside Road. The tankers then delivered the water to the mock emergency scene and traveled back to the filling site to reload again.
Two firefighters were responsible for jet siphoning the water supply to the 2,000 gallon tank at the water shuttle exercise on Riverside Road. Five tankers were running during the shuttle, with one pumper located at the filling site and two pumpers located at the mock emergency site.
The Strait Area Mutual Aid Association hosted a water shuttle exercise last weekend, with several volunteer fire departments participating. Two pumpers were located at the mock emergency site at the former plow shed in Cleveland.
Trucks from several volunteer fire departments were involved in a water shuttle exercise last weekend that was hosted by the West Bay Road and District Volunteer Fire Department. The fill site was located at the Petrie’s Brook dry hydrant and the discharge site located at the former plow shed in Cleveland.
A broken leg didn’t keep Volunteer Firefighter, Missy MacDonald from collecting survey data for the water shuttle exercise held on the weekend.
The water shuttle exercise was held in an effort to meet the National Fire Department Protection standards to satisfy guidelines for water supply and flow for fire trucks. The exercise collected data of fill times, gallonage of water, travel times, discharge times, flow at the discharge site, as well as gallonage flow.
The West Bay Road and District Volunteer Fire Department’s truck pulls into the discharge site in Cleveland during the water shuttle exercise. Trucks from five fire departments were involved in the exercise.
Drake Lowthers

Drake Lowthers has been a community journalist for The Reporter since July, 2018. His coverage of the suspicious death of Cassidy Bernard garnered him a 2018 Atlantic Journalism Award and a 2019 Better Newspaper Competition Award; while his extensive coverage of the Lionel Desmond Fatality Inquiry received a second place finish nationally in the 2020 Canadian Community Newspaper Awards for Best Feature Series. A Nova Scotia native, who has called Antigonish home for the past decade, Lowthers has a strong passion in telling people’s stories in a creative, yet thought-provoking way. He graduated from the journalism program at Holland College in 2016, where he played varsity football with the Hurricanes. His simple pleasures in life include his two children, photography, live music and the local sports scene.

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Drake Lowthers
Drake Lowthers has been a community journalist for The Reporter since July, 2018. His coverage of the suspicious death of Cassidy Bernard garnered him a 2018 Atlantic Journalism Award and a 2019 Better Newspaper Competition Award; while his extensive coverage of the Lionel Desmond Fatality Inquiry received a second place finish nationally in the 2020 Canadian Community Newspaper Awards for Best Feature Series. A Nova Scotia native, who has called Antigonish home for the past decade, Lowthers has a strong passion in telling people’s stories in a creative, yet thought-provoking way. He graduated from the journalism program at Holland College in 2016, where he played varsity football with the Hurricanes. His simple pleasures in life include his two children, photography, live music and the local sports scene.