Duracell campaign to help Canadian fire departments

Times Reporter

 

When buying 10 or 20 packs of Duracell AA batteries, people may notice the packages may be marked a little differently than normal. That’s because since the beginning of February, Duracell and the Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Association, CVFSA, have partnered to support Canada’s volunteer firefighters. Together they bring the ‘Power Those Who Protect Us’ campaign, in which Canadians can help out their local fire departments. 

 “To ensure all Canadian volunteer fire departments have the same chance of receiving batteries, regardless of geography or the size of the community they serve, the program in Canada has been designed so that all sales count towards one common donation,” said Victoria Maybee, external relations manager for Duracell Canada. 

At the end of the program, donated batteries will be evenly distributed to all of the registered departments, regardless of where the sales occurred.

The way the campaign works is, for every pack of specially marked 10AA or 20AA packs sold, anywhere in Canada, Duracell will add two batteries to the overall donation. Batteries are important to any fire hall, and the Strathmore Fire Department alone spends approximately $700 a year on batteries. 

“Truly at the end of the day it’s a huge benefit. So many devices that we use in the fire hall require batteries, including our breathing masks,” said Jamie LaChance, president of the Strathmore Fire Fighters Association

He said when the firefighters respond anywhere with a CO detector or a smoke detector, they will generally provide the batteries when doing the testing. If it’s a false alarm call, they’ll change out the batteries, or trade out the detector if it’s faulty.  

“At the end of the day it really does benefit the fire hall in a lot of ways, I mean you could just imagine how many batteries we go through in a year and how costly that starts to get,” said LaChance.

“For Duracell to donate that and give that to us, that’s a great deed, that’s for sure.”    

Over 70 per cent of firefighters in Canada are volunteers, who risk their lives to save others. The campaign will continue until the end of June, and while supplies last.