Busy time at Sooke FD

It has been a rather busy few days here at the fire department. Today was certainly busy for calls as we began with back to back calls for a transformer fire and a first responder call. This was followed by another burning complaint, a first response call and then alarm bells at the Museum again. (and it is only 6:00 o clock). Truck 208 is now back in building having returned from the body shop where the new service body with extra height ground clearance has been repaired and painted. Staff are now installing the lighting components. In addition a new rear bumper will have to be installed. Hopefully it is all in place by about weeks end. The new replacement for 209 should also be arriving any day (possibly tomorrow even) - (snow providing) Yes, that is the rumour tonight - it might snow some more. Should make for a fun commute if it does.

Thanks to all the members that attended the training session at Mariners on the weekend. Matt did a great job setting up a rescue scenerio and spent considerable time in training some of the newer members on how to package and load an injured patient into a basket stretcher and then secure them with ropes using the ladder truck as a means of picking the patient off the building. Look for many more training sessions to be held at Mariners over the coming months or even years as this project progresses. Here is an interesting bit of news too. Who ever thought they would see tower cranes in Sooke. Well it appears this is a reality as Mariners will have not one but two or more on site as they move into the next phases of construction this summer. These rigs will probably stand close to 150 feet high and should be visible from all over the community. Signs of a growing town.

A new drawing software program was installed on the FD computer system today. This will give us the ability to draw accurate floor plans and site plans that can be used for preplans at major incidents. Once these are completed, they will be loaded onto the command computer and can be printed in the field for use at these sites. Now that is a major step forward in fireground tactics.