Saturday May 7th is slated for the Portage la Prairie Fire Department's Firefighters Burn Fund bike auction. Chief Phil Carpenter outlines the auction.

"I think it's going to be about 120 bikes. Usually we're in that area. The more bikes we have the more people we hope show up, and they're be more of a variety of bikes to bid on. This is our 36th annual bike auction, so it's been going on for a few years."

He explains what the auction supports.

"The fire fighters burn fund was established to give support and help for burn victims. Definitely, there's a potential in the fire fighting world that burn injuries do happen. But again, the support is there for any type of burn injuries. The burn ward itself is in the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. And then there's a children's burn ward there as well. That's where you have major burns. It's quite a long process; the healing process, the psychological component. There are many things they look at and help people, help the family. We have a rescue home there."

Carpenter provides information for you to donate a bike.

"If you have a bike and you're interested in donating it to our annual bike auction, just phone the fire hall -- (204) 239-8340, and we can arrange pick up of that bike, or you can drop it off at the fire hall. Whatever way works, we appreciate any offer."

He says you can often get a great deal on a bicycle.

"It's really good to see the support from the citizens of Portage and surrounding. It's a good way to get a good used bike as well. And sometimes they go very reasonably, and other times there's a pretty good dollar spent. And knowing the money raised from that goes to the fire fighters burn fund, which we do appreciate."

Carpenter shares the best time to bring in a bike.

"A couple of days before the auction would be fine. We do have a party that we're going to have Wednesday night prior to the auction. And this is when we mainly clean the bikes up -- fix a flat tire, that kind of thing. We don't do any major repairs, but we do sparkle them up a bit.