David Gold honoured for critical work with Markham Fire
Story by Allison Rogers
David Gold and the team at Standard Auto Wreckers truly set the bar when it comes to auto recycling and community involvement.
The facility works with several philanthropic causes—including community event days and connections to No Poverty, No Disease, No War, an organization dedicated to bringing awareness to ongoing challenges of hunger and poverty; access to medical and health support services as well as the effects and aftermath of persons impacted by war and disasters. The team is no strangers to community-oriented efforts, but one longstanding partnership has earned Gold some serious stripes.
Since 2020, Standard has offered its facilities in Scarborough, Ontario, to local firefighter troupes—namely Markham Fire—for auto extrication training. In addition to these near-weekly training sessions, Gold has accompanied the team to numerous global competitions. Most recently, Gold attended the third annual North American Vehicle Rescue Association (NAVRA) competition with the Markham Fire Department, which he has attended for all three years the event has run.
“It was great—as usual,” he told Canadian Auto Recyclers. Following his return home from NAVRA, Gold was surprised by Fire Chiefs Ryan Best, Rob Garland, Chris Nearing and Matt Keay with the Outstanding Citizen Award, presented to civilians who have gone above and beyond to serve their community with volunteer efforts.
The work practiced nearly every Wednesday morning at the Scarborough Standard Auto Wreckers’ site will go on to, quite literally, save lives. Markham Fire and other teams that have utilized the grounds are constantly striving toward better response times, better methods of cutting apart cars in tricky positions and more cohesive teamwork. Upon one of Canadian Auto Recyclers’ visits to a training session, one of the firefighters informed us that this type of practice has been absent for years.
“It’s all in our own free time,” said Markham Fire Chief Brad Sterling during an October 2021 visit. “There haven’t been many options for us to train this way for a long, long time.”
As for the future, Gold has no plans to stop working alongside these everyday heroes.
“It was very humbling for me to receive this award. We’ll continue to work with the Markham Fire Department and other local branches in whatever way we can.”
