Challenging Auto Extrication Practice

The extrication team working on getting the doors removed.Last Thursday evening’s practice was a beauty. Sasha organized Eban and his backhoe to set up a car in the gravel pit. They put our rescue dummy into the driver’s seat, flipped the car upside down on a hill, and pushed it down until the roof caved in.

When we arrived on scene, incident command assigned an extrication team and a medical team. The extrication team got to work immediately on getting the car cribbed up and stabilized, making it safe to work around. The medical team was able to get into the car 7 minutes later to begin work on our patient. While they were dealing with Rescue Randy’s injuries, the extrication team was removing the doors on the car in order to get the patient out.

Medical team working on the patient while the extrication team removes the doors on the other side.

Our patient was fully extricated on a backboard and into the back of the ambulance in under 50 minutes. Thanks to Sasha for organizing this involved exercise.

Burn Permits Now Required

It’s that season again. Permits are now required for any open burning larger than a campfire. Permits are free and are available by calling the Fire Department at 250.335.2611. On Wednesdays and Saturdays we will come by to have a look at your burn setup and write the permit.

The permit process is to ensure that anyone who is planning on doing a burn has taken all the appropriate precautions. To hasten the permit process please make sure that your fire is:

  • not under power lines
  • not under tree branches
  • a safe distance from any buildings
  • on mineral soil, not organic soil
  • not containing any plastic, rubber, or petroleum products

Hornby and Denman in Joint Rescue

On April 3 at about 1500 Denman Island Fire Department received a page to assist BC Ambulance in rescuing a patient from Boyle Point Park. As the call progressed it was becoming obvious that it was not a simple wildland extrication. The patient was at the bottom of a cliff on a particularly rugged piece of coastline.

Denman Fire had begun to lower one of their members down the cliff while several others made their way along the coastline. Hornby Island Fire Rescue offered our assistance in the form of a boat to extricate the patient and Denman accepted that offer. Two members of HIFR left Ford Cove Marina at 1600 and arrived at the scene on Denman at approximately 1610.

Deputy Chinnery and firefighter Alan Friesen of DIVFD arrived at the patient’s side at the same time. The two were able to assess her injuries and get her aboard Captain Zielinski’s boat. DIVFD’s Deputy, Rob Manering, arrived on scene and also came on board to assist with patient transport. We were met at Gravelly Bay by BC Ambulance who took charge of the patient.

HIFR would like to congratulate DIVFD on a successful and well run incident. It was a pleasure working with them and we look forward to the next chance to work together.

HIFR Helps with Clinic Move

Congratulations to the New Clinic Committee and the Hornby Island community in general. Funded by the community, and built almost exclusively using volunteer labour, there is a beautiful new medical clinic for the island.

HIFR is proud to have played a part in this project by doing some remedial floor support work and then again on Saturday by helping the move. Doug, John, Embers, Sheree, and Julian gave up a few hours to finish the move of some cabinets, desks, and other furniture.

Cadet Camp 2011 Wraps Up

This year’s Cadet Camp was a great success with sunny, warm weather and fun, interested participants.

On Wednesday morning the cadets cut apart a car with our hydraulic tools, learned how to escape a burning building, navigated a maze filled with theatrical smoke, and experimented with fire behaviour. After a great lunch of homemade pasta with cheese sauce and salad we took the trucks to the school parking lot. There they learned how to use a hose line and sprayed a lot of water and foam.

Thursday morning was spent learning first aid skills by patching each other up according to a “wheel of fortune of injuries”, and learning the ins and outs of the 911 system. We were able to do an actual 911 call to fire dispatch to watch the system work from calling 911 to when our pagers go off. Lunch was chili with home baked bread followed by ice cream sundaes. The afternoon was spent extinguishing both oil fires and wood fires using a variety of extinguishers.

To cap it all off, the cadets returned to the firehall with their parents later in the evening for a firefighter challenge. It was a great opportunity to show off their newly learned skills. They went through a course involving finding their way out of a smoky maze, rescuing a baby along the way. They then dragged a charged hoseline 50′ and had to knock over a traffic cone with the hosestream. They completed the circuit by dragging a dummy 50′ back to the starting point.

Once everyone had completed the course we all retired upstairs for desserts, certificates, and a few special awards. Big thanks to all the kids who participated. You make it all worth it.

Extra thanks to all the firefighters who took time off of work, or who simply gave p a day or two of their lives to make this successful. Extra special thanks to Rachelle, Theresa, and Jules who aren’t even on the department, but who worked tirelessly to make such fabulous food for all of us.

See you all next year!

New Firehall Update

The existing firehall is in danger of collapsing in the event of an earthquake. If disaster were to hit this area, it would be very important that we would be able to access the emergency vehicles instead of having to excavate them from the rubble. We also need more space for another truck and, due to the topography of the land, there is very little space to expand the truck bays.

After several engineering reports and reviews of the needs of the fire department were completed the CVRD had determined that a new fire hall was the preferable solution. A chunk of land across the road from the existing fire hall was identified as a suitable location and the process was set in motion to acquire this land. First Nations were consulted and the Integrated Land Management Bureau was involved. After 2 years of bureaucracy early this year we got the approval to use that land.

The plot of land is now staked out and flagged. If anyone wants to take a look it’s right across the road from our current fire hall.

The next steps are the budgeting process and the design. The CVRD has come up with a plan that will pay for the new fire hall by increasing property taxes by $.15 per $1000 of accessment. That will shake out to a $75 increase for a $500,000 property.

For the engineering reports, the budget documents, minutes from the committee meetings, and other documents relating to the new fire hall project Click here.