LeMoine firefighters mark 50th anniversary

June 3, 2025

_{Members of LeMoine Volunteer Fire Department pose for a photo during training exercises. The department will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a dinner and dance later in the year. (Photo: contributed)}

The role of a volunteer firefighter has changed dramatically since the communities of Grand Etang, Cap LeMoine and St. Joseph du Moine decided half a century ago that they needed their own fire brigade.

LeMoine Volunteer Fire Department will mark its 50th anniversary with a dinner, dance and awards ceremony later in the year.

Alfred Aucoin, the department’s chief since 2005 and a member since 1988, says the demand on his department increases each year.

“We used to average from eight to 15 calls a year,” Aucoin explains. “Now we’re doing 40, 50, 60 a year – a lot of medical.”

The LeMoine department, one of the smallest in Inverness County at 23 members, serves residents along an 11-kilometre stretch of the Cabot Trail. But despite its size, Aucoin is quick to point out it’s a very well-trained group, as 16 of those 23 members are trained as medical first responders.

Aucoin retired two years ago after working as a paramedic for 21 years. His son, Jason, is currently employed as a paramedic, and is a captain in the department. The younger Aucoin also provides much of the medical response training for the other members.

Previously served by the volunteer firefighters in nearby Chéticamp, the communities currently served by the LeMoine station decided in 1975 that they needed their own firefighters following two major fires that year, one of which included fatalities. So, they joined the Chéticamp department as a substation.

“When we first started, we were on Pembroke Lake Rd. and we purchased a piece of land and erected a building for $12,000 in 1976,” Aucoin recalls. “All the labour was donated by the parishioners. That was just the cost of the building and the land.”

There were 12 founding members in that first department, five of whom are still members today.

In 1989, the LeMoine firefighters established their own department, and the following year purchased the old school in St. Joseph du Moine from the county for one dollar, and that building serves as their fire station to this day.

That same year, the fledgling department battled its biggest blaze to date, as fire destroyed the former St. Joseph’s Church in St. Joseph du Moine on New Year’s Eve. It was Aucoin’s first fire.

He says the department spent much of its time in the early days fundraising. Along with dinners, dances and bingos, they also found more creative ways to help sustain their department. He says with a number of professional pulp cutters in the community, it was decided in 1989 they’d cut pulp and donate the proceeds from that effort to the department. He says they did that for 12 years.

The annual St. Joseph du Moine Scottish Concert was another major fundraiser for the department. It ran from 1977 until 2003, when it became difficult to find enough volunteers.

Today, the LeMoine department is aided in their fundraising efforts by the Nova Scotia Firefighters Weekly 50/50 Draw.

LeMoine fire chief Alfred Aucoin, and his son Jason Aucoin posing for a photo in their firefighter equipment. — LeMoine fire chief Alfred Aucoin, a retired paramedic, is joined in the fire department by his son Jason Aucoin, who currently works as a paramedic and provides first responder training to his fellow firefighters. (Photo: Michel Soucy)

Jason Aucoin, Brad Purdon, Keith Aucoin, Alfred Aucoin, and Jeremy Smith posing for a photo in their firefighter gear in front of a fire truck. — Shown, from left, during a recent weekly training exercise are Jason Aucoin (captain), Brad Purdon (lieutenant), Keith Aucoin, Alfred Aucoin (chief), and Jeremy Smith. The LeMoine Volunteer Fire Department is marking its 50th anniversary this year. (Photo: Dave MacNeil)

Photo of Cyril Chiasson, and Roger Bourgeois receiving a tribute for their live saving actions. — One of the highlights during the first 50 years of the LeMoine fire department was the tribute paid to Cyril Chiasson, second from left, and Roger Bourgeois, who saved Leonard Cormier and his wife Claudia Deveau from possible carbon monoxide poisoning. LeMoine chief Alfred Aucoin, right, was joined in the tribute by Robert Deveau, who was the fire chief in Chéticamp. Cormier was the LeMoine department’s president at the time. (Photo: contributed)

“That’s a lifesaver,” Aucoin says. “We take in about $15,000 from that every year.”

That money has helped greatly in providing the training and equipment needed by the department.

“I remember when I joined the department, we had two portable radios and two SCBAs (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus),” he recalls. “Now everyone’s got their own radio, everybody has their own pack (SCBA) and everybody’s well-equipped with good turnout gear. We’ve come a long way.”

Aucoin says the biggest challenge he sees for his department is the aging population in the communities it serves.

“It’s the age factor,” he says. “We have an aging population, so it’s more and more medical. Fire- wise, we’ve done a good job on fire prevention and fire training. Last year we had one chimney fire. We used to go to a dozen chimney fires a year. People are more careful.”

“You have that burnout coming way sooner than you want, especially with medical calls,” Aucoin adds. “Even though you’re trained, the stress that comes with doing medical calls is very high.”

But even those challenges have not affected recruitment, he notes.

“I’ve got people knocking on my door almost every day trying to join,” he says. “We’re very lucky.”