Nice surprise retirement breakfast for Brother Gary Oakley Reg# 1307 this morning at the Norwood Hotel.

Brother Oakley retires from the Winnipeg Fire Department as a Captain over thirty years of dedicated service.

We wish Gary all the best as he transfers to 5 Platoon!

—————WE WON————–

WINNIPEG HAS BEEN SELECTED TO HOST THE 2023 WORLD POLICE FIRE GAMES!

The 3 cities who were short listed for the site inspections were the City of Winnipeg, San Diego California and Adelaide Australia.

This will be the largest sporting event ever hosted in Manitoba – 10 thousand athletes (Firefighters, Police Officers, Correction Officers, Conservation Officers, Border services) from 70 countries who will compete in over 55 sports bringing an estimated 12-15 thousand family members and coaches with them. Over 150 hockey teams alone. The economic impact for the past host cities was in the 100 million dollar range.

We look forward to working with all levels of government to make this a success.

We have been working for this day since 2008 and are proud to see this come to a successful climax.

Winnipeg is a world class city with a world class Police Service and Fire Department.

For media inquiries contact Alex Forrest at 204.791.4980

WINNIPEG TO BID ON WORLD POLICE & FIRE GAMES

This weekend UFFW President Alex Forrest and Winnipeg’s World Police & Fire Games Co-Chair Chad Swayze will be part of a Winnipeg contingent travelling to Los Angeles for the final bid presentation to host the 2023 World Police & Fire Games.

The World Police & Fire Games is one of the largest sporting events in the world involving between 8,000-10,000 athletes and another 10,000 coaches and family. The financial impact of these games on Winnipeg’s economy would be in the 100 million dollar range.

The two other cities in this final bid phase are Adelaide Australia and San Diego California.

Winnipeg is a world class city with a world class fire department & Police Service, and we believe we are well positioned to win this bid.

Follow UFFW and Alex Forrest’s Facebook and Twitter sites Sunday to find out if we were successful in being awarded the 2023 World Police and Fire games!

On Friday July 28th, a visit was organized for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet our crew at 4 station.

Not surprisingly, a few hours earlier these same busy crews were involved in rescuing 6 ppl trapped in a 3rd story Sherbrook apartment fire.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by his daughter Ella and Senior Cabinet Minister Jim Carr spent over an hour at the hall discussing our firefighting and paramedic roles.

The great chefs on two shift then treated the Prime Minister and his daughter to a great firehall lunch. During the meal, UFFW executive Tom Bilous thanked the PM for enacting the PSOC (Public Safety Officer Compensation) bill that will provide financial support to the famillies of any firefighter killed in the line of duty.

It was an honour to host the sitting Prime Minister at the hall, and we thank the crew and the administration for their support and cooperation on this project.

Alex Forrest

It was nothing short of inspiring to have Steve Sawatzky out of hospital and honoured before tonight’s Blue Bomber home game.