Fire prevention and department news for Hornby Island Fire Rescue
With all the recent rain, we are no longer asking people to register their burn piles.
Please note that large piles that have stumps, or are machine built always require a permit which you can get by calling the hall.
Keep smoke etiquette in mind and check the ventilation index and try and avoid burning a lot of green leaves or needles. Watch to make sure you aren’t smoking out your neighbours. As always a supply of water and hand tools are required when burning.
We are happy to announce that the chipping program is coming back again this year.
Our current dates are slated for the second and third week of November.
Please remember…..no invasive species or weeds, no lumber type products, and no leaves. Branches must be less than 12 cm in diameter and arranged facing the same direction.
All Category 2 backyard burning is now allowed. We ask everyone who is going to do a burn to please leave a message at the hall with your address and contact information. Category 3, (large piles greater than 2 meters or containing large diameter logs or stumps) require a permit and must follow the venting index.
Be kind to your neighbours and watch the smoke from your piles to make sure it is going up and not sideways. Also try and avoid burning green leaves or branches as they create a lot of unnecessary smoke.
Effective noon on Thursday Sept 25, we will be lifting the burning ban. Both Campfires and backyard burn piles will be allowed, but category 3 (machine built) fires are still disallowed.
Campfires are a half meter, or less, in diameter and used for cooking, warmth, or ceremony. Please use water to extinguish your campfire. Burying it in sand leaves a very hot pit which can give a person or animal a nasty burn.
If you are planning a backyard brush pile, please call the non-emergency number at the fire hall (250.335.2611) and leave your name, contact number, and address so we have an idea of how many fires are burning on the island.
To report an illegal or dangerous fire, please call 911
TLDR: No chainsaw ban at noon (Sep 8)
Last night we had some hyper-localized light rain. Shingle Spit is bone dry, but the roads are damp at the firehall. The roads and lawns may be damp this morning, but no moisture made it through the canopy.
I have backed off the fire hazard to “HIGH” and won’t implement the high-risk activity restrictions today. I highly recommend morning shift for any such activities, followed by a 30-minute fire watch. Best practice is to have water standing by.
A total fire ban remains in effect.
Unless we get some rain on Sunday, the restrictions will go into effect on Monday, Sep 8 at noon. Here is a list of the most common activities that are temporarily suspended:
Residential lawn mowing is not banned, but it should be accompanied by a working garden hose that can reach the entire area and a minimum 1-hour fire watch afterwards.
We understand that this creates a hardship on anyone who makes their living in the tree business. We also know it throws a kink into the plans of anyone who is working on getting their firewood ready for the fall. Implementing these restrictions is not something I take lightly, but considering our remoteness, I feel it is time.
Please call the firehall at 250.335.2611 if you have any questions.
The Coastal Fire Center of the BC Wildfire Service has put a campfire ban in effect beginning Thursday, July 17 at noon.
CSA and UL-certified propane fire rings are permitted. They can be identified by their lack of smoke, no sparks, and a consistent flame. If you see a fire on the island, and you are confident it isn’t a propane ring, please call 911 and ask for a duty officer investigation.
Miranda Johnson, Internal Communications Officer for the Ministry of Forests, wrote an excellent article about the Wildfire Risk Reduction project we conducted here on Hornby Island. She interviewed most of the people who were involved and did a great job of capturing what we were trying to accomplish.
“The success of the Hornby Island project stands as a testament not only to its innovative and climate-conscious approach to wildfire resilience but also to the power of value-driven collaboration with local leadership and the community.”
I’m proud of how the project turned out, and I believe it is an example of how to do this type of work on Hornby and in other coastal communities.
The Province has banned all category 2 and category 3 burning until further notice. Campfires of less than half meter in diameter (category 1) are currently still allowed.
The “wetting down” ceremony is a long-standing tradition dating back to the days of horse-drawn fire trucks. In those days, the firefighters would unhook the truck from the horses, wash it, and then push it into the garage by hand. It became a tradition that fire departments follow whenever a new apparatus arrives.
After a two-year process, Hornby Island’s new fire truck is ready to go into service, and we are inviting the community to come and watch the ceremony. It will take place at the beginning of our regular Thursday evening training on May 29 at 1930 sharp. We expect it to take about 20 – 30 minutes, after which we will be off to a simulated trail rescue drill.
If you have a few minutes to come see the new rig, we would love to see you there. The chief and probably a few others will be there from 1830 to show off our newest apparatus.