Three local firefighters are being recognized for their rescue of three men from a grain silo collapse last year.
On June 5, Owen Sound Firefighter Jay Gow, as well as Inter-Township Fire Department Fire Chief Jeff Gautreau and Deputy Fire Chief Andy Redmond all received recognition with the OPP Commissioner’s Citation for Heroic Rescue.
This comes after in October, 2024, when a scaffold collapsed inside a silo in Kilsyth, resulting in two workers dying.
“We received a call about people on top of the silo and responded with Inter-Township Fire as well as Owen Sound Fire. Once we realized that the platform that Owen Sound was bringing wasn’t going to be high enough, we reached out to Vanwyck Cranes Services to come out and we got a a man basket with us and then we were able to bring the three people on top of the silo down,” says Gautreau. “We just did the job we had to do. The Inter-Township Firefighters, everyone there did their job and everybody did a great job.”
Gautreau explains it was Gow and Redmond who went up in the basket to rescue the three men, while he accepted the recognition on behalf of the fire department.
“I just wanted all our firefighters recognized, not just a few. My award was towards the whole department,” says Gautreau. “It’s nice to be recognized, but it is not what we do the job for, we do the job to help the public and to keep everybody safe.”
During an Owen Sound council meeting on Monday, Mayor Ian Boddy congratulated the firefighters for their service and the recognition.
“The OPP Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving is not given lightly. It recognizes extraordinary acts of bravery and compassion in life-threatening situations, whether performed by OPP members or civilians,” says Boddy.
