A NEW ASPECT OF FIRE FIGHTING: In the early 1990s members of the fire department took courses in Oxygen Administration and CPR, which were taught by the Provincial Red Cross Office. In the mid-1990s ten members of the department took the "First Responders" course. In 1998, when the installation of the 911 system was announced it would be installed, as well as the development of a in Greenwich , it was decided that all members of the department should take the First Responders course. The department decided to take it one step further and purchased a defibrillator. The entire department took the training and did fund raising" to pay the $6,000 to cover the purchase of the defibrillator. The bill was paid off in a month. According to David Rossiter , the role of fire department's working with medically related incidents, is not something new: This trend has been happening in the United States for the past twenty years. Full-time departments in the have taken it on to justify their cause. For a full-time department to operate, it has to have a lot of calls. Fire Calls have traditionally gone down in the past twenty years due to more work in educating the public in fire prevention: something needed to be taken on to fill the void. It is something that has worked its way up into Canada , and even into the Maritime Provinces. (22) Currently, the fire department is called by the Kings County EMS Ambulance Service as soon as it receives a call. The fire department goes to a residence or scene of accidents to do what it can. THE IRVING WHALE The St. Peters Fire Department was also involved with resurfacing of the Irving Whale in 1995. Having gone down in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in September of 1970, the Irving Whale had taken with it 4,200 tons of bunker "C" oil to the bottom. In the twenty-five years it lay at the bottom of the Gulf; it had become an ecological time bomb. (23) Due to the mussel industry in St. Peters Bay and many inlets to a host of rivers the Coast Guard needed a group that would be able to respond at a moments notice to set boom,* which would prevent oil from entering St. Peters Bay , said David Rossiter ." (24) The Coast Guard brought men in from Halifax to train the department members. St. Peters was the only fire department involved with the resurfacing of the whale. Luckily ** A celebrity hockey game, a corporate canvas, and a car wash were done to raise money. * Boom is a chemical that is run in water to divert oil. 346