Hometown advantage

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This article was published 27/07/2023 (799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brit Gaudreau’s job as a 911 dispatcher is not an easy one.

Gaudreau has had to communicate, gather information from, and instruct people who are in very stressful and scary situations. If that wasn’t tough enough already, Gaudreau often doesn’t even get the chance to find out what happened to the person she just spoke to.

“You don’t get a lot of closure, that can be really hard… You don’t really get to know the outcome,” she said.

While she has enjoyed her time as a dispatcher, the Winnipegger sought to be more hands-on in helping her community and decided the firefighter route would suit her best.

“I’ve been in dispatch for two-and-a-half years and it’s really awesome to have a birds eye view of the service… but, I really want to be out in the streets making a difference, being hands on, I really want to be out there helping people.”

Her desire to become a firefighter also ignited a new passion.

“Through wanting to pursue a career in fire, I really found a passion for fitness through crossfit,” she said.

Gaudreau, along with more than 400 other Manitobans at the 2023 World Police and Fire Games, is taking advantage of the multi-sport event taking place in her backyard and is competing in crossfit.

“I think it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, because it will never come back to Winnipeg so it’s pretty cool it’s in our hometown.”

Gaudreau wants to represent both dispatchers and women in the 2023 WPFG.

“I think it’s really important that dispatchers as well as females be represented in the Games because I think a lot of times when people think of firefighters or police officers they think of men, and there’s a lot of women out there that are strong women that are really good in their roles and their careers.“

The 2023 Games are the first iteration of the event that allows first responders outside of police officers and firefighters to compete, and flight paramedic Grant Therrien couldn’t be happier.

“I’m so excited that paramedics and other first responders have been welcomed into the Games,” said Therrien.

Therrien is a part of the STARS air ambulance team, a critical care air service based out of Winnipeg.

“We are a critical care transporting air ambulance and so I fly in the red helicopter and I go to scenes of severe injury or illness,” he said.

When Therrien, a long time hockey goaltender, heard about the Games coming to Winnipeg he was interested in playing but did not yet have a team. That reality changed when he got a call from Adam Johnson who was the captain of the Winnipeg Fire Department hockey team. Johnson explained that he was organizing a team that would enter the Games and would love for Therrien play for them. Therrien jumped at the chance.

The team is made up of one other paramedic and 14 firefighters. The Canadian squad has been preparing for the last two months.

“We’ve been playing exhibition games against other teams that are in the Games and we’re getting to know each other in terms of playing together and that has been a lot of fun, we’re excited,” said Therrien.

The goaltender said when people are in a line of work like his, being active is of paramount importance and can serve as a needed outlet from the stress of their day-to-day lives. His outlet of choice is keepong pucks out of the net.

“In the business that I’m in, you should always find a way to stay fit and a way to be healthy, and for me hockey is that escape.”

Firefighter Kurtis Sansregret elects to shoot hoops whenever he is in need of a break from his work life.

Sansregret was quite the hooper in his early years having been a part of a Sisler Spartans varsity team that won the AAAA provincial title in his grade 12 year in 2006. The former Spartan then took his talents to the University of Manitoba for two seasons where he averaged 14.4 points per game in his second season before transferring to the U of W for one more season in 2013-14. After a season with the Wesmen, Sansregret decided it was time to hang up the sneakers and become a firefighter.

“I decided that it was time to go pursue firefighting, I’d been putting it off for a while, and now I’m here. Seven and a half years I’ve been in the (Winnipeg Fire) department and it’s been great,” said Sansregret.

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While his university career may have been over, the hardwood remained a space where Sansregret could find some peace.

“For me, it’s always been a place where I can be by myself and just not have to think about anything, I’m just dribbling a basketball and taking some shots and decompressing from any events that have happened in work or anywhere else.”

Despite his continued love of the game, he had stopped playing almost entirely by 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic hit soon after and his hiatus from hoops continued for a couple years. When Sansregret heard the Games were coming to Winnipeg, he started to think about a comeback.

“I was off for a couple years then I heard Winnipeg won the bid to host the WPFG and I thought, ‘Hey, I should do this one more time’, this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience and why not compete in your backyard in front of the people that know you best.”

donald.stewart@freepress.mb.ca