Dorchester leaves no one behind, as village dealt with outages

In the small community of Dorchester, the last few days were a real struggle, with much of the village — including the water treatment plant — without power, but everyone pitched in to make sure those without electricity stayed safe.    

The village's 20 volunteer firefighters went door to door over three days to make sure everybody was taken care of.

 ''We've been helping out people in the community as best we can,'' said Reg Tower, deputy chief with Dorchester's fire department. ''By going door to door, focusing mainly on the seniors in the community.''

Tower said it was clear to them that they needed to step up after the village was struck with extensive power outages.

The Shiretown Manor, a senior citizens' home, was one of the places affected for several days.

''We're a small community but we're spread out a long ways. And as far as medical support, ambulance and things like that, minimum they're twenty minutes away,'' he said.

Firefighters brought people to the community veterans centre, which was been turned into a makeshift shelter, complete with cots and blankets from the Red Cross.

'A real adventure'

One of the families who slept there are the Corketons.

They stayed at the centre since Thursday, and were without electricity since Tuesday.

''We brought some stuff, like games and everything,'' said Lise Corketon. ''They brought a TV. So I think they really enjoyed their night here, guys eh?"

''It's been a real adventure with this,'' said daughter Rosalie.

As the village comes closer to riding out the aftermath of the storm, officials say if one good thing has come out of it, it's that now they feel more prepared to take on an emergency, although they hope they don't have to anytime soon.

''It's really turned out to be a pretty efficient cycle of helping each other out,'' said Tower. ''We've been able to provide the ones that needed it the most with the most essential needs — lots of electric heaters, generators, water, food.''