Edmonton Eskimos pay visit to BRFA to celebrate first responders

Edmonton Eskimos offensive lineman Matt O’Donnell, left, and kicker Sean Whyte, right, learn about first responders duties from Ken Hesson, assistant division chief of medical operations for the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority.

It was a day to celebrate first responders with special guests.

Edmonton Eskimos Matt O’Donnell, Sean Whyte, Almondo Sewell and Kwaku Boateng visited the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority on Wednesday to celebrate first responders in small communities.

They got to see what the fire department and ambulance service do first hand in various stations at the fire hall in Bonnyville.

“It’s a really good experience,” said Sewell, a six-time CFL all-star.

“We don’t get to see a lot of you guys and meet a lot of you guys in the community because we are busy doing the season, but in the offseason, the team does a really good job of having us out in community.”

Although they are professional athletes and mainly volunteers at the BRFA they both rely upon one thing to get the job done – team work.

“The one thing that you take away from this with the RCMP, the firefighters and army, everything is all about team-based. Everybody has to be accountable to each other to make sure, everybody’s being saved all at the same time.

“So it’s not too far from what we do. I’m relying on the next man next to me too.”

Deputy Fire Chief Dan Heney said the excitement level was high to have these special guests and welcome them to Bonnyville.

“Our folks is it’s all about passion and particularly our volunteer firefighters. They’re not doing this for the money. They’re doing this because they love this, which is not unlike the players in the CFL. They’re not making the millions of dollars that the guys in the NFL are making. They do it because they love playing the game,” said Heney.

“I think there’s a real good tie in there between their team and our team – folks are doing it because they love to do it. They want to do it. They want to help people. And I’m just jazzed about how excited everybody was this morning, the energy you could feel in the building leading up to when the team got here.”

The Edmonton Eskimos Community Tour saw stops in Cold Lake at Tim Hortons and CFB Cold Lake while also meeting with RCMP officers.