COURTNEY McCLURE, for The Standard NORTH DURHAM: You can apply for an April 2022 burning permit on the Township of Scugog website. The Township’s Open Air By-Law regulates burning throughout the Scugog Township and community. There are also many burning categories, including, but not limited to, recreational, agricultural and specialty burning. Each year, this burn ban is put into place to give dead grass and brush time to turn green again. During this time, the ground may st

DAN CEARNS, The Standard SCUGOG: Scugog Firefighters had to battle a basement fire at a house at 8 Orchard Road in Port Perry on Easter Sunday, April 17th. Scugog Fire Chief Mark Berney told The Standard firefighters received the emergency call at 1:10 p.m. “It was an unfortunate accidental incident. No fault of the homeowners. It was just a failure of the electrical system,” Chief Berney explained. Scugog Fire officials estimate the total damages from the fire to be around $

COURTNEY McCLURE, The Standard UXBRIDGE: The Uxbridge fire department is accepting applications for volunteer, part-time firefighters. They are also hosting an information session, on Wednesday, January 19th, 2022, at 7 p.m. According to the assistant fire chief, Mike MacDonald, the fire department sends this message to the community when they need new recruits. For example, if someone retires from a position, the fire department notifies the public and accepts applications.

DURHAM: MPP David Piccini and MPP Lindsey Park announced, on May 4th, the Ontario Government is investing $81,000 to help Fire Services address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will enhance fire safety training and support safety inspection programs to ensure compliance with the Ontario Fire Code. “This funding will enhance opportunities for training and support fire safety inspections needed to keep our communities safe,” said MPP Piccini. “This new investme

Pontypool Community wishes a well-known resident Ryan Kent a speedy recovery. Ryan is in Sunnybrook recovering from surgery. Feel better soon Ryan. Manvers historical society is selling chocolate bunnies for Easter. For more info, go to the Pontypool Community page on Facebook or Manvers historical Society. On April 10th, they will be selling seeds from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Old Post Office in Bethany. Check their page for more info. Now that the nicer weather is here, we will s

DAN CEARNS, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, for The Standard SCUGOG: Scugog’s fire chief has announced a couple of new programs intended to improve fire safety awareness. At a meeting on Monday, February 8th, Fire Chief Mark Berney spoke about a new door-hanger campaign and a virtual challenge. “One common denominator with dwelling fires that end tragically is the lack of working smoke alarms. Given the tragic events across the province recently, along with the lack of

Dear Diary Every day, I try to find things to be thankful for, through my life I have learned that you should not take anything for granted, all of this, of course, involves telling people how you feel about them. I especially believe that when people do things for us, we need to make sure we thank them and make sure that they know their efforts do not go unnoticed, and also that they do feel appreciated. I try to do this as much as possible when my friends and family do thin