There are few things I like more than giving out helmet stickers, P.A.S.S. tags, and collar dogs. The latest two promotions were to Jasper Savoie and Rob Lewis.

Jasper’s first exposure to HIFR was when he was 13 and attended one of our early cadet camps. He joined us as a member a few years later. He’s been off-island for months at a time for trades training, but always comes back and works extremely hard to catch up. I am so pleased to announce his promotion from rookie to firefighter.

Rob Lewis joined us three years ago and immediately went on a tear learning as much as he could and taking on whatever jobs were on offer. He is our volunteer fund treasurer and training officer and I’m thrilled to be able to promote him to the rank of Lieutenant.

Congratulations to both of them. They’ve worked really hard to achieve these milestones.

Just before 4:oopm on Labour Day, we received a call for a mountain bike accident on No Horses trail near Strachan Road. Fortunately our recent locum, Doctor Nick Bartell was also on the trail and came on scene and provided initial care while alerting 911 and the nature of the injuries. We arrived and after ‘packaging’ for spinal immobilization we transported the patient to the landing strip and the waiting BCAS medical crew and helicopter.

We get 4 or 5 such helicopter evacuations each year and Gregg happened to spot a good photo on this occasion:

At the beginning of August, Rookies Bailey Gordon and Scott Towson, completed their firefighter practical evaluation testing and written knowledge test.

Congratulations to our new Firefighters Bailey and Scott for their dedication to training and serving our community.

Have you thought about joining us? We are looking for new recruits and have this Question and Answer page of some initial questions you may have.

Talk to a firefighter or come out on a Thursday night at 7:30

Q&A for recruits

We just witnessed an incredible demonstration of democracy in action and community pride. After what seemed like an endless parade of flyers, voters turned out in record numbers to support our plan for the future.

Locals had smiles on their faces as they went to vote! A really positive event.

It was truly amazing to keep running into friends who own property here but don’t live here. They had come to vote. Wow!

Thank you everyone. Thank you everyone who voted, whether yes or no. Thank you for making the effort to make your vote count.

We are excited for the future.

Following the count at Saturday’s assent voting for the Hornby Island fire hall borrowing bylaw, the unofficial results are as follows:
YES – 623 (83{99e9ada67dac39a50d0f689a42cd9e161cfeac89d8ef38f636e75bc823e6d3b2})
NO – 126 (17{99e9ada67dac39a50d0f689a42cd9e161cfeac89d8ef38f636e75bc823e6d3b2})

A chief election official’s review will be conducted early next week and the official results will be announced before Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at 4:30

The 2014 Annual Report is available here: HIFR Annual Report 2014

with earlier reports available on the Public Documents page

Fire Prevention Officers’ Association of BC   News Release

  December 21, 2014

 Fire Prevention Week Contest Prize Winner – Hornby Island

 The annual Fire Prevention Week contest has expanded to include a prize winner in each of the five geographic zones of the province.  Primary students were visited by firefighters before Fire Prevention Week, October 5 – 11, and given entry forms to enter into a contest after some fire safety activities were completed at home with their families.  The contest winner would receive an iPad.

 The five iPads are jointly sponsored by the Office of the Fire Commissioner, the BC Fire Chiefs’ Association, the Fire Training Officers’ Association of BC, the Fire Prevention Officers’ Association of BC and Fortis BC.  “Working together we have been able to make the contest more meaningful across the province.  Each zone will have its own winner instead of one winner for all of BC” said Timo Juurakko, Chair of the Public Education Committee for the FPOABC. “Hopefully more families became engaged in fire prevention activities, which was the goal of the project.”

 We are excited to announce that the winner for zone #1 (Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast) is from Hornby Island Community School.  Sophie Chapman was presented with her iPad on Wednesday, December 17^th.

 The take home activities that all children completed prompted attention to working smoke alarms and home escape planning with the entire family.  Remember, only working smoke alarms will notify you of a fire emergency and knowing what to do when the alarm sounds is crucial to your family being safe.

Preliminary Design OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, July 20th – 2:00-5:30 pm and Monday, July 21st – 7:00-9:30 pm at New Horizons

Please attend to review and provide feedback on the preliminary design and cost estimate of the proposed new fire hall. Stay informed through our website located at

http://www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/hornbyislandfirehall

Contact Tor Nawrot at tor@hifd.org or 250-335-2214

for more information in the latest Newsletter:

July 2014 Newsletter

At 8:10 on the evening of Sunday, May 25, we received a page for a structure fire at 5205 Fowler Road. Fire Dispatch then confirmed that this was the Sea Breeze Lodge. The staff member who called 911 reported that he thought everyone was out of the building and when asked where the fire was, he apparently replied: “Overhead!”. He was told to get out.

The Duty Officer arrived on scene at 8:16 and reported that the front of the building was on fire as well as 3 cars. Engine 61 arrived at 8:20 and started protecting the exposed building on the east side, which was fortunately on the windward side of the fire. This video taken by Karun Koernig, one of the guests, shows the Engine arriving and the extent of the fire upon arrival.

The speed of the fire spread surprised everyone. Guests and staff had noticed what appeared at first to be fog, drifting by the windows as dinner was being served. Rudy, working in the kitchen, also noticed this and went to look out the door into the storage area and saw flames rolling inside the open storage area. He then alerted everyone that there was a fire and to evacuate the building. Many guests, unaware of the severity of the fire took their delicious duck dinner and wine outside to wait until they could re-enter the dining room. When they turned around to look they could see that the front third of the lodge was on fire.

Volunteer firefighters worked until 2:30 in the morning, putting out hotspots as best as possible but had to leave some still smoldering due to the piles of debris laying under metal roofing. Back at the fire hall everything had to be put back into operational readiness which took another hour and a half. 11 firefighters, 3 rookies and 2 auxiliaries took part in the incident.

Investigation of the fire involved 2 of our Local Assistants to the Fire Commissioner with the expert assistance of a forensic investigator from Richmond. The fire appeared to originate in the vicinity of the battery charger and spare battery used for the house keeping electric golf cart which was kept in the open storage area at the front of the lodge.