Investment

‘It’s a good investment’ — Hemsworth

Published

5 years ago

March 11, 2020

New MaxiMetal fire truck will keep residents safe, home insurance costs low, chief says

Prince Township’s new firet ruck – flawless and shiny from bumper to bumper. Marguerite La Haye

PRINCE TOWNSHIP — For many small communities, a brand-new fire truck with a $400,000 price tag might seem like a budget-busting extravagance.

But Steve Hemsworth, fire chief at the Prince Township Volunteer Fire Department, believes the township’s new pumper/tanker truck will prove a solid long-term investment.

“We should get 30 years of life out of this truck, Hemsworth said during a recent interview at the fire hall. “We’re going to run it the first 15 as a pumper … (and) 15 years as a tanker.

“The nice part about us having a new truck now is that we get the best years out of a truck for once, to enjoy the minimal repairs and having a dependable unit.”

The 2019 truck was manufactured by the Quebec-based MaxiMetal Inc., which supplies emergency vehicles to the Montreal Fire Department. Before it’s arrival in Prince, it was used only as a demonstrator.

At 27-foot long, the vehicle is compact, but its tank holds 1,800 Imperial gallon of water, and its on-board pump can deliver 1,000 gal. of water a minute through 4” diameter hoses. It also carries an on-board system to deliver fire retardant foam at the flip of a couple of switches.

The truck is also equipped with a large porta tank, which firefighters can quickly set up at a fire scene as an emergency water supply. The porta tank can hold the contents of the truck’s tank with room to spare.

“If we have a call where we don’t have a hydrant, (the porta tank) is our hydrant,” Hemsworth explained. “The tanker crew would take the porta tank off the truck, set it up, and dump the truck’s water into it. Then the truck can go to a hydrant or a lake to be refilled with water.”

With its multiple storage compartments, the truck can carry all the equipment firefighters are likely to need in any rural firefighting scenario: a medical kit, cutting tools, four self-contained breathing apparatus units, hoses, and several portable pumps, including those needed to battle a wildland blaze.

The pumps and hoses designed for wildland firefighting are compatible with those used by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Hemsworth noted.

The compatibility means that township firefighters can battle a wildland fire unassisted until MNR firefighters reach the scene then work seamlessly with them once they arrive.

The cab includes new safety features the department’s second-hand vehicles lacked, including a warning system that alerts the driver when a door or compartment is open and a backup camera.

“Everything on this vehicle meets the safety standards that are current now,” Hemsworth said.

The MaxiMetal truck has now replaced the township’s 24-year-old pumper truck as the department’s front-run, or primary, firefighting vehicle. Over the next five years, the old pumper truck will serve as a backup vehicle, but its main use will be for medical first response calls.

Once it reaches age 30, Hemsworth wants to see it decommissioned and replaced, but he added that the decision will be up to “the council of the day.”

Two other fire department vehicles have already been decommissioned and will shortly be sold: the 24-year-old medical rescue van, and the 34-year-old tanker truck.

What’s most important to Hemsworth is that the purchase of the new truck k brings the fire department into compliance with the standards required by Underwriters’ Laboratories of Canada (ULC), which sets the fire insurance rates for residential and commercial properties in all Canadian municipalities that have fire departments.

ULC standards require a municipality with more than 1,000 residents to have at least one front-run firefighting vehicle that is no more than 15 years old.

The standards permit fire trucks more than 15 years old may to be used as backup, or support, vehicles and kept up to the age of 30.

In his report to council last November, Hemsworth cautioned that the township would risk liability for any damages that might result if the fire department sent its 24-year old pumper truck as the front-run vehicle on a fire call and the truck or its pump broke down.

The arrival of the new truck eliminates that risk.

“It’s a good investment, because we now have a dependable truck that’s in good repair. We have a truck that meets all the insurance standards and will keep taxpayers’ insurance rates low,” Hemsworth said.

“We’ll get the first 15 years of good service and keep repair costs low, because (the truck) is under warrantee.”

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Economy

Energy stocks help lift S&P/TSX composite, U.S. stock markets also up

Published

2 days ago

September 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was higher in late-morning trading, helped by strength in energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also moved up.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.91 points at 23,736.98.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178.05 points at 41,800.13. The S&P 500 index was up 28.38 points at 5,661.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.17 points at 17,725.30.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.56 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.

The November crude oil contract was up 68 cents at US$69.70 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.40 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$2,601.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.28 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX gains almost 100 points, U.S. markets also higher ahead of rate decision

Published

6 days ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.

“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.

While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.

Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.

But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.

Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.

“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.

“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.

A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.

It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.

More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.

“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.

In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.

“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX composite down more than 200 points, U.S. stock markets also fall

Published

2 weeks ago

September 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.

The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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