Keaton Cloud has been with the department for nearly six years. (Town La Ronge/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

Promotion

Cloud ‘deeply honoured’ to accept position as regional fire chief

Dec 22, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Keaton Cloud has been promoted to the role of chief of the La Ronge Regional Fire Department.

“I’m deeply honoured to be have been offered this position and serve for my tri-Communities for hopefully years to come,” he wrote in an email to larongeNOW. “This is something I did not see happening for years, however being offered this position in my hometown, close to my family and to lead a highly-trained fire department was something that was hard to turn down.”

Cloud brings with him nearly six years of experience and he became a fully-certified firefighter in 2018. He went from a regular serving member to acting-fire chief in the matters of weeks in December 2019 after the sudden departure of Wayne Tchorzewski, who left because of health issues.

Cloud is a Lac La Ronge Indian Band member and a graduate of La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School. He officially became the fire chief of the department Dec. 18.

“Transitioning period was busy, however, very smooth,” Cloud said of the last 12 months. “It helped that I was an officer prior to accepting the position. I knew the operations, I knew the crew.”

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During Cloud’s leadership so far, he’s secured new firefighter personal protective equipment for all members, introduced new training props and equipment, as well as updated old tools and equipment that were safety concerns. He also explained a new and significantly improved Emergency Services Bylaw was implemented, which updated operating procedures to bring the department up to standards.

With the introduction of a new recruitment and training process, Cloud noted there’s been a significant increase in applicants who want to become a local firefighter.

“We can expect our membership to be at capacity (30) by February when applicants are hired,” he said. “Currently there are six positions available.”

As for the position of deputy fire chief, Cloud said an individual who will be relocating from Ontario has been hired and will be joining the department Jan. 25. The successful candidate has several years in the fire service and he recently was an instructor at a fire training facility.

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno