The Winkler Fire Department has added a new hazmat tool to their arsenal.

An annonymous donor has provided a foam pump to the Pembina Triangle Mutual Aid District Hazmat Team, which will be stored in Winkler.

Winkler Fire Chief Richard Paetzold explains the foam is made for combating flammable liquid fire incident such as crude oil.

"We have pipelines, we have rail transportation... so that potential is there," he says, adding the equipment will pump foam into a fire truck to be spread onto a fire covering burning fuel.

Firefighters recently took the opportunity to train with the new equipment. A thousand litres of foam costs approximately $7,000, however he notes they also had a number of containers of foam donated.

"It's definitely a key component if we ever have a huge incident," Paetzold notes.

The Hazmat team continues to train within the region, and have been dispatched to Emerson last year at a rail car derailment incident, and to Steinbach the year before to set up a decontamination centre at a meth lab bust.

To see the latest fire fighting equipment up-close, the Winkler Fire Department is hosting an open house Wednesday, October 12 as part of Fire Prevention Week.

The event takes place from 6:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m at the fire hall, 290 Pembina Ave. Paetzold says it's also a chance to remind homeowners smoke detectors have a ten year shelf life before needing to be replaced.

The foam is pumped to the portable nozzles to cover burning fuel.