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Fire dept. limits highway responses Fort Providence volunteer firefighters
to stay within corporate limits for vehicle fires
Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, August 22, 2013
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
The Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department has announced it will no longer respond to vehicle fires on Highways 1 and 3 outside of the hamlet's corporate limits.
Jeremy Kielstra, right, and Jim Snider carry a fire hose around a gravel truck to apply more water to cool the vehicle. The Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department responded to the vehicle fire at kilometre marker 89 on Highway 3 on Aug. 11. - photo courtesy of the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department
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The decision factored in the department's commitment to the community as well as the effectiveness of responding to vehicle fires on the highways.
"We can't leave our community unprotected," said Christopher Carson, the department's training officer.
The department only has one pumper truck and if it is on the highway it leaves the community vulnerable, he said. Responding to the fires is also not effective.
By the time someone gets into cellphone range to report a vehicle fire and the department drives to the location, the fire has often run its course. The firefighters are only cooling down hot metal once they arrive, said Carson.
The most recent vehicle fire the department responded to was a case in point, he said. The department received a call on Aug. 11 that a tanker trailer had overturned and that the resulting fire was spreading into the forest on the side of the road.
At the scene, approximately 65 kilometres from the fire hall, the five members of the department who responded found a gravel truck that was upright. The cab had lit on fire and the fire had subsided by the time the department arrived, Carson said.
"It's wasting our resources," he said about such calls.
The department is a 100 per cent volunteer organization and doesn't charge for any of its services. Over the past two years, there have been approximately six vehicle fires, mostly transport trucks, on the highways outside of the corporate limits. The department didn't go to all of them, and committing to responding to all such fires would be too much for the volunteers, Carson said.
The department will still respond to vehicle fires between Dory Point and Bluefish Creek Bridge on Highway 3. The RCMP can make requests related to fires farther out and each will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the fire chief or the hamlet's senior administrative officer, Carson said.
The department is still committed to responding, in conjunction with the Fort Providence Health Centre, to cases on highways 1 and 3 where vehicle extrication or advanced medical first response is needed. On Highway 1, the response area starts at approximately kilometre marker 170 at the Kakisa access road and ends at kilometre 296 at Redknife River. On Highway 3, the area runs from kilometre marker 0 to 120 at Chan Lake.
The department is also reminding motorists that all emergencies on highways, even if they involve a fire, must be reported to the closest RCMP detachment. The RCMP then call the fire department. Motorists should also drive carefully and keep their vehicles in good repair, said Carson.
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