Some new equipment is slated to arrive in Portage la Prairie this year for the Portage Fire Department to assist in making our city more safe.

Director of public safety and Fire chief Phil Carpenter says a new truck is on its way in the next two weeks. He outlines what else is planned.

"We've created a new emergency reference guide on how to deal with different emergencies that we may come across in our city," says Carpenter. "So, this guide is going to be available soon to the citizens of Portage to give them some direction, guidance and information on how to handle different emergency events."

He notes the intention is to have these guides mailed out to everyone, but that's still being worked out.

Through last year's version of the pandemic, Carpenter says some of the firefighters did get hit with COVID.

"We do have a couple of members with COVID presently," adds Carpenter. "So, we are, again, dealing with it accordingly, and it's not affecting our operation of the department at this present time."

Carpenter explains, as director of public safety, after overseeing the bylaw component, it has been busy.

"Dealing with many different things on that aspect, from helping with anything from homeless people to the animals -- dogs and cats. And being cold out there, our bylaw team is assisting with that, and helping to provide and ensure care is given for them."