Medicine Hat Firefighters B.J Lang and Dave Kowalchuk take some money of out a boot atop the old Maple Avenue Fire Hall in this March 2018 file photo. The annual rooftop fundraiser goes this year from March 25-27 in support of muscular dystrophy.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
Local firefighters are preparing for their annual Rooftop Campout, March 25-27, in support of Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s #FillTheBoot campaign.
“We will have our two firefighters on the roof. They will be there camping all weekend – they won’t be coming down,” Dylan Gustafson, senior firefighter and charity co-ordinator with Local 263, told the News. “Out front – in the parking lot – we’ll have volunteer crews as well as on-duty crew … holding boots and inviting motorists to pull in and donate to our cause. As well, we will have an online #FillTheBoot campaign through Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s website, which is running now.”
The two firefighters set to go up – Luke Oegema and Vaughn Row – are newly hired and so this will be their first time partaking in the event. Gustafson reports they are both looking forward to the experience, as are the rest of the city’s firefighters.
“We’re just really excited to host this event again,” said Gustafson. “It’s something which hits really close to home for us.”
While the Rooftop Campout tradition began in the 1970s, it gained a new level of meaning in 2013, when Hatter Michael James Page passed away from Duchanne Muscular Dystrophy.
“We do host this in his honour every year,” Gustafson said. “He’s in our memories and he was a good friend of ours.”
Firefighters are hoping to raise more than $13,000 in Page’s honour. Donations can be made in person at Medicine Hat’s Fire Station No. 2 from March 25-27 or online.
