Fire prevention and department news for Hornby Island Fire Rescue
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
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.
Our Fire Patrol has been getting a rough ride in the last week from off-island partiers on the beach. As soon as our guys walk away after extinguishing a fire the beach rats taunt them and light up another one. With no RCMP on island the punks figure that they have free reign to flaunt the fire ban.
Last night at 2AM we had enough of the disrespect of both our patrollers and the fire ban, and when the idiots refused to do without a fire, we rolled our trucks and showed up with a bunch of firefighters and a 1000 gallon per minute pump. That sent them scurrying like vermin. The disaster that they left was shocking and the photos don’t do it justice. Many glass bottles had been tossed into the fire where they had broken and been buried under burning coals; beer cans and liquor bottles were strewn as far as they could be thrown.
We pulled as much of the glass as we could out of the fire before putting it out. We then hosed down the surrounding area to make it as wet and unpleasant as possible in an attempt to keep them from returning that night. At least one had injured her foot on broken glass while fleeing, and we were able to track some of them down at the campsite where we got some
names, license plate numbers, and contact inf
o. More as that develops.
The August long weekend is always our busiest, so we thought we’d up the ante by adding a pancake breakfast to the mix. Staying true to predictions, we had 6 calls in the 24 hours leading up to the breakfast. The last of these calls finished at 3AM, just 3 hours before having to get up to prep.
At 8:50AM there were people lined up for pancakes, bacon, coffee, blueberries, and juice. And even as we started to dismantle the stoves at noon, there were still stragglers rolling through.
The breakfast was to raise funds for a thermal imaging camera, and the proceeds from the breakfast – $4100 – almost covers it. The balance will come from the Fire Department’s operations budget and a donation from the firefighters’ volunteer fund.
So many people helped us put on this event and I’ll list them at the end of the page, but I have to acknowledge Chief Giff LaRose for his vision and tireless efforts to make it happen. Well done, Chief!
Thank you to everyone who came or made a donation. It was a fantastic event!
The Ministry of Forests Lands and Natural Resource Operations has announced that effective at 12 noon on Thursday, August 1, 2013, all open fires, including campfires are banned in the Coastal area, which includes Hornby Island. Pursuant to Bylaw 2732, the ban is in effect on Hornby Island until further notice.
To see the current information issued by the Ministry please refer to this link: http://bcwildfire.ca/hprScripts/WildfireNews/Bans.asp
HIFR is holding a pancake breakfast on Sunday, August 4th from 9am until noon. We’ll be serving pancakes with blueberries, syrup, bacon, veggie links, coffee, and juice. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for kids under 12.
This is a fundraiser to enable us to buy a thermal imaging camera. We’ll have the camera at the breakfast so you can try it out. Come see the celebrity pancake flippers, meet your firefighters, tour the hall, check put the trucks, and enjoy a great breakfast. See you at the firehall.
Achieving the “Superior Tanker Shuttle Accreditation” is one of our priorities. It’s a long process, though, involving new apparatus, complicated calculations, and a tonne of practice. The idea is that if the department can show that we can deliver sufficient water to pump a constant 200 gallons every minute for a full 2 hours to any location on island every household gets a massive saving on their insurance bill. It would be as though you lived on the same block as a fire hydrant.
Last night we completed a small but important step in achieving this goal. We did a full 2 hour cycle of delivering water to prove our calculations were in the ballpark, and they were! We still have a lot of work to do in building the new firehall, designing and purchasing the second tanker truck, recruiting and training new drivers/pump operators, and successfully challenging the Underwriters’ demanding test.
Thank you to everyone on our route that put up with seven trips of our water tanker past their front yard. If you have any questions about this process or what it might mean to you, please call the firehall at 335.2611. Also feel free to stop Deputy Doug Chinnery or Chief Giff LaRose when you see them out and about. We love to talk about it.
Tonight we were called to an accident where a worker fell off of a three storey house while working on the roof. Our crew of seven did a magnificent job of packaging him on a spine board while stabilizing some other injuries and getting him out to our ambulance. Another HIFR member secured the airstrip and prepared for the incoming helicopter.
When the call came in, BC Ambulance launched their helicopter from Vancouver and we met them at the airstrip and transferred him to their extremely capable hands. He was stable and alert upon handover and under better circumstances would have enjoyed his exciting helicopter ride to Victoria.
We are pleased to announce that Tor Nawrot has been hired by the Comox Valley RegionalDistrict as the Pre-Construction Coordinator for the fire hall renewal project. Tor, a resident of Hornby Island, will begin a unique community consultation process by hosting neighbourhood meetings in local homes to hear what Islanders are thinking about the new fire hall, answer questions and start a community dialogue on what we want to see in the new building.
Tor recently met with the local members of the Firehall Renewal Select Committee responsible for the firehall project. They are Fire Chief Giff La Rose, Jim Garton, Tony Quin and Andrew Carmichael. The series of initial neighbourhood meetings will start in late July so watch for a flyer advertising for your area.
The Ministry of Forests has closed all open burning as of noon , Monday, June 24 until October 15. Open burning is the burning of yard cleanup, brush piles, scrap wood and includes burn barrels. This does not apply to campfires. Safe campfires are still allowed and we ask everyone to exercise care when lighting a campfire and remember that campfires are to be small: less than 18″ or 450mm across and are for enjoyment, cooking or ceremonies. Please call the Fire Patrol pager at 250-703-9022 with any questions or concerns regarding fires. In an emergency remember to call 911