Author: Duncan

Forest Fire Structural Protection Practice

Last Thursday evening Hornby Island Fire Rescue had the pleasure of getting some training from a few members of Comox Fire Rescue. Fire Chief Gord Schreiner and three of his members came to provide us with knowledge and skills for use when dealing with a wildland-urban interface fire. Sixteen of our department members received training at a considerable savings to our training budget with the generous offer of Comox to come to us for an evening of sharing.

These skills, when combined with a FireSmart prepared property, give us a greater chance of saving infrastructure and properties on the island when a forest fire rolls through.

The FireSmart BC program is designed to help home owners prepare their home for a forest fire that impinges on their property. Visit the FireSmart BC website for a questionnaire and advice that will help you protect your home.

This program combined with working smoke detectors are your best chance for protecting your home and memories.

Our thanks go out to Comox Fire Rescue for sharing their knowledge and investing their time in our community.

Thursday evening, we practice.

Many of our Islanders are aware that our members gather to practice on Thursday evenings. Sometimes we are around our fire hall and often we are out and around the island. Our practices range through a large number of skills; Superior Water Shuttle (the reason your fire insurance just dropped), Auto-Ex (car accidents), and Forestry drills, just to name a few.

Tonight (June 6th) we are practicing our shoreline Search And Rescue. We will be in the area of Whaling Station with our crews walking the beach searching for a perfectly healthy volunteer patient. For those of you in the area, when you see all the trucks and the members walking up and down the shoreline, relax as we are just practicing. All is good.

Hornby Island Fire Rescue would like to extend our thanks and appreciation for all the members of the public who support our training. We can be loud, we can get in the way, and for those who don’t know, we can cause concern. Your patience and support help all islanders and visitors by allowing the department to be ready when we are needed.