Why does a quonset hut building not work for a firehall? I keep hearing this question, so here’s a stab at why it will not work…
I often worry that not everyone understands the role that we play in emergency response on our isolated island. If someone is having any emergency, no matter what it is… a heart attack… a fire… a collapsed house… fallen and can’t get up… panic attack… they’ll see us. There is no BC Ambulance. There is no specialty hazmat response unit. There is no dedicated cliff rescue team. There is no neighboring department on which we can call. There is only Hornby Island Fire Rescue for at least the first 2 hours and we have to be trained in all those disciplines. That is what makes us different from almost all other rural departments.
We do so much more than put out fires. In fact firefighting is one most infrequent jobs that we do. More than half of our calls are for medical emergencies that anywhere else in BC would be a visit from BC Ambulance.
We are not trying to build just a garage to store trucks. This is a building that serves as a base for all of our emergency operations. It’s a depot to store our equipment in a warm, dry spot. It’s an “ambulance” station. It’s a workshop to maintain our specialized gear so we don’t have to send it off island. It’s a kitchen so we have a place to make food while out on long emergency calls or when we get back to the hall at 5AM. It’s a shower and laundry facility to wash the toxic chemicals off of our gear and and bodies. It’s a training center. It’s a public space where we can hold cadet camps and open first aid workshops. Its a meeting room where we can debrief after emotionally damaging incidents. It needs to be warm, dry, comfortable, and safe. Coming back to a quonset hut at dawn, soaking wet, cold, and hungry is beyond unappealing.