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On behalf of HIFR, and the entire Hornby Island community, I’d like to congratulate Jac Graham, Rob “Louie” Lewis, Albini Lapierre, and Scott Towson for achieving their FR licenses though the Emergency Medical Assistants Licensing Board.

They dedicated themselves to a 40 hour course then did many more hours of practice before challenging both a written and practical exam. I’d also like to thank Paula Courteau for her many hours of prep and for her excellent instruction, and John Heinegg for doing all of the evaluations.

I could not be more proud of the dedication of this group of volunteers to the health and safety of our community.

Doug Chinnery
Fire Chief

The most recent news letter from the Coastal Fire Center has a bunch of great information inside. The front page tells us all about the various categories of outdoor fires… What makes a campfire a campfire and what differentiates a category 2 backyard burn from a category 3 slash pile.

Further on in the newsletter they discuss the often talked about ventilation index and how to report a non permitted burn.

Click on the image for a pdf version of the newsletter.

As of noon today the Ministry of Forests closed all backyard burning in the coastal fire region. If you have a current permit, you should consider it revoked. 

Campfires are still allowed without a permit. A campfire is fire for cooking, warmth, or ceremonial purposes  and not to exceed .5 meters x .5 meters.

This is the press release that I just received.

 

I got a call a few days ago from a Hornby Island Blues Society volunteer saying that they needed a replacement venue for a bass workshop. I asked if a truck bay would work and in less than ten minutes he dropped by to check it out for himself. I spent a couple of hours clearing the plan and was thrilled to call HIBS back to say it would work.

Ten students showed up this morning to learn bass guitar techniques from their  instructor, Gary Kendall, one of the finest blues bassists in the country.

I’m exited to share our beautiful new firehall with them for the next couple of days and so pleased that HIFR is able to help out with this fantastic festival.

It’s been a pretty dry spring so far and the forest is starting to get a bit crunchy. All backyard burning, other than campfires, will require a permit. Permits are free and we write them on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It requires one of us come to your place to make sure that the pile is safe.  You will need to have a hose or other water deliver system on standby and some hand tools to pull the pile apart if required.

Please be kind to your neighbors and only light up your pile when the venting index for Central Vancouver Island is good.

To get your permit call the fire hall at 250.335.2611 and leave a message or talk to the chief.

Here is an interesting article on the  ventilation system at our  new Firehall. We recently had a small routine repair on a part, and one of the designers wrote a very interesting article on how they tackled a unique challenge in the design of our building.

Click the picture for a link to the complete article.

As we all know, the air we breathe can be subject to lots of pollutants. From cars to factories to our very own burn piles in the wetter months. While it may be safe to burn from a fire prevention standpoint, it’s important to check the venting index for our area to make sure that the smoke and particulate can easily dissipate. You will see on the side of the page a link to a great new interactive map that shows the venting indexes all over the province. Please be neighbourly and check the index before you light up your pile. We will also leave the link here for a little while so everyone can get used to it. Just click the picture of the map and it will get you where you need to go. Thanks.

This year’s Cadet Camp is completely full. Thank you for everyone who has registered. We are so sorry for anyone who tried to register but ended up on the waiting list.

For more information about the camp, you can go to the Cadet Camp page.

The latest update from the CVRD on our awesome new fire hall. Click the image for a bigger version.