Crane Lake Association

summer or autumn. This is great but we must not allow our

success to permit us to become complacent about maintaining

our fire equipment. As the recent tragic snowmobile accident

on our lake demonstrated, disaster can strike when we least

expect it. For those of you who frequent the lake during the

winter, don’t forget that we have a sled which is equipped

with winter fire-fighting equipment along with a first aid kit

and backboard. We cannot keep our oxygen or defibrillator on

the fire sled because these items need heated storage but a fire

committee member may be able to access them. The fire sled

is located at the Crane Lake Marina in the snowmobile shed

behind Mike Steele’s shop.

This past summer our committee examined all of our

equipment to see where improvements might be needed. As a

result, at last summer’s annual meeting, we asked and received

funding for a number of items. Unlike previous years in

which we have asked for funding for a major project such as

replacing our hose, this year’s request was for a variety of

smaller items needed to bring our compliment of equipment

up to one hundred percent. This included replacement

batteries for our two-way radios, four sets of coveralls which

can be worn at fires, a tune-up and new water pump for the

outboard motor on the fireboat, a spare 12-volt battery for the

fireboat, and the tools necessary to insure that each of our five

pumps boxes has an axe, a pick, and a shovel. A hard suction

hose is also on order–that’s the hose through which the fire

pump sucks up water from the lake. Our current suction hose

works, but only because we have numerous small holes

patched with many yards of tape. With these and a few other

very minor purchases, our fire equipment is now in top notch

condition. I feel confident in saying that our fire equipment is

better than that of any other lake in the district. This would not

have been possible without the great support the fire

committee has received from the association membership.

Our fire committee also remains strong. You should have a

list of our members on the yellow sheet next to your cottage

phone. In addition, cottagers Jeff Graper and Darv Easton

have recently joined our committee, making it even stronger.

We will include a new emergency number sheet with the

spring newsletter. As I said at the annual meeting, our system

of telephoning fire committee members is not an ideal system

for communicating an alarm of fire, particularly in the off

season when many of the committee members are not on the

lake. We have a sub-committee exploring alternatives, but at

this point we have no better system.

As we enjoy the rest of the winter, remember that the most

common wintertime fire is a chimney fire. If you should want

information on preventing or putting out a chimney fire, you

will find an article on this subject on the Association’s web

site.