Energy company funds new defibrillators for Dawson Creek firefighters

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Dawson Creek firefighters are thanking a local energy company for bankrolling the purchase of new life-saving equipment.

Dawson Creek Fire Rescue posted to Facebook on Tuesday, August 19th, thanking TC Energy and its subsidiary Coastal GasLink for paying for new automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) for the department.

AEDs are portable devices that can be used to treat people whose hearts have stopped beating due to sudden cardiac arrest.

According to deputy fire chief Todd Pickett, the new AEDs will replace the fire department’s current aging models.

“Ours were almost 20 years old,” Pickett said in an interview. “[They] still worked and all the rest of that kind of stuff, but these ones have a lot more features.”

Pickett said he helped coordinate the purchase, alongside TC Energy representative Heather Desarmia. The new AEDs reportedly cost roughly $10,000.

“We got them a few days ago, and then just basically did some training with all the crews,” he said. “They’re in service now.”

TC Energy is a company that supplies natural gas and electricity across Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Coastal GasLink is a subsidiary of TC Energy, responsible for a 670-kilometre natural gas pipeline that stretches from the Peace region out to Kitimat.