100th Anniversary Update

Seems there is a lot going on in preparation for the 100th anniversary celebrations of Sooke Fire Rescue Service in 2103. The planning committee has begun work on a 16 month calendar featuring photos of Sooke Fire Rescue in action today and at past calls. The calendar will also include special dates relating to various celebrations the department will hold over the anniversary period. Work on the old 1942 fire truck is well underway. A small but dedicated crew is here every Friday evening working on the old girl. Different sources of funding the restoration are now being explored. Several local businesses and people have also offered their services in the project.

On another front, a new commemorative badge has been designed for the department. It is hoped to have this minted and ready for each member in time for 2013 celebrations.

In addition to the badge, a new "Challenge Coin" is being minted for the department. Featuring two views of the old Sooke FD Crests, this special coin will be available from members of the Firefighters Association. The following show the two sides of the proposed coin.

Haz Mat Call

The Sooke Fire Rescue Haz Mat team was put to the test again when a local excavating contractor called in to inform that a bank of commercial batteries used to power a forklift were smoking and offgassing. Crews were quickly on scene and determined that the batteries which hadn't been used in some time were seriously corroded. The owner had refilled the batteries and was attempting to start the machine at which time the electrical current ran through the corroded sections and began a chemical reaction. Crews in SCBA entered the building and cut the lead bridges between the batteries to stop the current from flowing. The scene was quickly cleaned up once the connections were broken. The occupant had inhaled some of the gases but was treated and released by ambulance crews on scene.

Busy Weekend in February

Firefighters faced a challenging night on February 4th. The day began routine enough with just a couple of burning complaints. At around 5:30 that evening crews were called out for a structure fire. A well involved mobile home was on fire in the 6600 block of Sooke Road. Firefighters quickly arrived on Engine 1 and pulled two lines, the first to protect the exposure (another mobile home only a few feet away) and the second to hit the fire that had fully involved the deck and front portion of the home. Ladder 1 arrived shortly after and laid in a 4 inch supply line from the hydrant. Due to the long lay in needed, there was not sufficient hose on board and crews had to pull an additional 300 feet from E-1 to finish the connection. Not only were crews facing the fire, they had to contend with dozens of cars and spectators taking their cars down the driveway and over the hoses. This was quickly solved by closing the driveway off. With a water supply now established, Engine 2 arrived as the RIT team. Closely behind was Rescue 1 doing traffic control and dealing with the family whose home was on fire. There were two occupants in the building when the fire started. Both escaped out the back door without injury. The neigbouring home had 7 occupants. The heat from the fire cracked one window on the exposure but firefighters were able to keep it from spreading. Crews did an excellent job in stopping the fire and actually managed to save the rear half of the mobile home. This allowed the homeowner to later salvage much of her possessions. The ESS crew provided great comfort to the residents and were able to secure 72 hours of emergency supplies and accomodation for the uninsured resident. The site was secured and an investigation began the next morning. With no obvious cause to be found, the electrical inspector was called in to look into this aspect. Nothing was found with respect to electrical as the cause, although many problems with the wiring were found in the home. With no accidental cause to be found the fire has been labeled suspicious and turned over to the RCMP for further investigation. (it was also determined that at some point earlier (no timeline determined yet) that the first mobile home in the park had also been set on fire, however this one appeared to have gone out on its own. This tied into the recent set fire at the Toronto Dominion Bank now under construction along with several other arson fires in recent months has fire and police officials obviously concerned.

What's Been Happening in 2012 (so far)

Welcome to a new year. Things have been a little more quiet than usual as far as call volume goes. Even with all of the ice and snow, there was not a lot of emergency activity as a result. Of particular concern was another attempted arson fire, this time at the Toronto Dominion Bank construction site where person or persons set fire to the side of the building. Fortunately a passerby saw the fire and was able to extinguish it before it spread. RCMP Forensic Identification team is investigating. This is about the fourth arson fire in as many months. Firefighters are urged to keep their eyes open when responding and arriving at calls for anyone acting suspicious and to immediately report their concerns to a senior officer. The fire department would also like to welcome to new members to the Pub Ed division. Welcome to Grant and Katherine. With these two new appointments, the support services division is filled up. We are still seeking applications for volunteer firefighter positions. There are currently about 10 positions vacant in the fire department. Work on the old 1942 fire truck is progressing very nicely. The truck is now in many, many pieces with the engine, transmission and pump ready to be pulled out. Some local businesses have offered their services to assist in the restoration. What a great show of support from the community. (Oh yeah, the vote was to put the truck back to its original red colour when it comes time to paint) The 100th Anniversary Committee has been meeting and working on plans for a year long celebration of the fire department when it reaches 100 years old in 2013. Some of the projects being considered are a parade of antique fire trucks, a carnival/fair, raising $100,000.00 in donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a hose cart race from Langord to Sooke, a Sooke FD calendar, a Firemans Ball, and well there is more. Look for further announcements.

For Sale

Sooke Fire Rescue Service has for sale the following surplus apparatus: 1 - 1985 Mack Anderson Pumper Truck - Mack Diesel Engine with Allison Automatic Transmission, 1250 igpm pump, 1000 gallon water tank, class A foam system and assorted ground ladders. Five seats in truck, 2 with SCBA brackets. Body is aluminum. Truck was taken out of service November 2011. Asking price is $12,500.00. Contact Sooke Fire Rescue Service at 250 642-5422 or ssorensen@sooke.ca for more information.

Chimney Fire Season is Here. Have you had yours cleaned lately?

With the recent cold weather, it appears chimney fire season is once again upon us. Sooke Firefighters have already attended 4 such calls in the past month. While no serious damage has resulted from any of these recent incidents, it is a reminder to all of us to have our chimneys inspected and cleaned on a regular basis.

MVI Snarls Morning Traffic

A single vehicle Motor Vehicle Crash in the 7600 Block of West Coast Road on the morning of December 12th resulted in the closure of the highway for about 40 minutes while rescue crews freed the driver and sole occupant. The driver had lost control of the vehicle and went off road into a telephone pole causing extensive damage to her side of the car. The drivers seat had been forced over into the centre of the car. Crews from both Sooke Fire Stations using 2 sets of Jaws of Life removed the passenger door and roof of the vehicle. A dash roll was also used to free the driver. Once the car had been disassemble, the victim was removed and placed on a stretcher for transport by ambulance to VGH. While she did not appear to badly hurt, her condition was later upgraded when internal bleeding and broken ribs were discovered. At last report the patient was in the intensive care unit.

Merry Christmas

It has been a while since I have had a chance to put anything on here so I will try to add several posts to catch up on what has been going on with the fire department. First off and the top story has to be the incredible support that we have received in collecting donations for the Sooke Christmas Bureau. Volunteers from the fire department, District of Sooke employees, RCMP, EHS, ESS (spouses and kids too) and Mayor and some council members all spent 2 or more hours on their feet in front of the grocery stores, drug store or at the fire hall doing the drive through program. Firefighters and helpers then spent several hours decorating the fire trucks for the Annual Santa Run taking Santa all over the community collecting food donations. I am very pleased to announce that through all this effort a total of $11,000.00 in cash and at least another $10,000.00+ in food and toys was collected. (could be worth considerably more, but is hard to estimate) The trailers holding the food are loaded to the limit and there is still more on the floor that would not fit. How awesome is that?

1942 Fire Truck - Progress Report

The work on the '42 International Fire Truck is progressing nicely as a large group of volunteers are in the station every Friday from 6:00 pm on dismantling the truck piece by piece. Chrome parts are being shined and other parts are being stripped in preperation of a new paint job. All of the fenders, front end and hood have been removed. The running boards are now coming off and will be replaced with new solid wood boards that will be varnished to a high shine. Help is still needed on this project and we are also looking for anyone that may have photos or stories of this truck when it was in service in Sooke from 1954 to 1970.

Now for the big news. The second fire truck of this vintage that saw service in Sooke during the same time period is now also available to members of the Sooke Firefighters Association. The truck, a 1954 Austin has been in a museum in the Queen Charlotte Islands for many years now. It appears that the historical society in this area would like to move the truck out as they have new displays to put in and have offered to give the truck back to Sooke. What are the odds of having two trucks that left Sooke 41 years ago, being offered to be returned within 2 months of each other. Weird or What? Anyway, it appears that several members are interested in having a look and bringing this truck home to Sooke as well.

Photos show the 1942 International as it undergoes restoration in Sooke and the old Austin in service in Sooke back in the late 1960's

Busy Weekend of Christmas Activities

This weekend was very busy with Christmas events. To begin with, Saturday and Sunday saw firefighters, RCMP members, District of Sooke staff, members of the Emergency Program and EHS members all out collecting food items and cash for the Sooke Christmas Bureau. Working in front of Western Foods, Village Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart from 10 to 4 each day, these community minded volunteers collected a pick up truck load of food and approximately $3700.00 in cash and checks. What an amazing display of generosity by this community. Volunteers will be out again in force next weekend at these same locations. Then on Dec 16, 17 and 18 we will try the first ever Fire Hall Drive Thru campaign were local citizens can simply drive into the fire hall and make a donation without ever leaving their cars. Don't forget the Santa Run on December 17th. Santa will begin touring the communities of Sooke, Otter Point and East Sooke in fire trucks beginning at 5:00 pm. Watch for the December 14th edition of the Sooke News Mirror for specially marked grocery bags showing all the route information.

Firefighters also spent the afternoon decorating Engine 1 for the Sooke Christmas Parade. This may have been the biggest and best parade ever as it was a beautiful sunny day and the streets were lined with spectators. This was followed an hour later by the lighting of the Christmas trees in front of evergreen mall.

Thanks very much to all the volunteers that helped this weekend. What a great effort and hopefully we will see as much, if not more of this next weekend.

Another Crash Involves a Logging Truck

Fearing the worst, emergency responders attended a motor vehicle crash in the 5500 block of Sooke Road on November 28th. The initial call came in as a logging truck versus car with the driver of the car trapped and requiring extrication. with a short handed crews, those firefighters that were available responded from both Sooke stations to the scene. Fortunately, the car and truck were not pinned together, rather it appears the driver of the car had crossed the centre lane and hit the logging truck in both sets of rear wheels causing severe damage to one rim on the first axle and damage to the tire on the second axle. A large chunk of rubber was also torn out of the tire located on the trailer portion of the logging unit. All three tires and likely two rims would have to be replaced. The car suffered extensive front end damage and while the driver suffered only minor injuries, the Jaws of Life had to be used to get the door open. The driver was tranported to hospital and the RCMP continue to investigate the cause.

Reigonal Haz Mat Training Exercise Held in Sooke

Sooke Fire Rescue Service hosted the first of a series of Greater Victoria area live training exercises for the CRD Hazardous Materials Team. In this scenerio a 100lb container of ammonia had fallen over and began leaking in the ice making room at the Seaparc Leisure Centre. Using a variety of props, a large gas cloud could be seen forming above the arena building. Sooke Firefighters arrived on scene with their small hazardous materials trailer but quickly realized that they had insufficient staff or equipment to deal with this emergency. As ammonia is a deadly gas, the arena and pool were quickly evacuated, Phillips Road closed to all traffic and nearby homeowners were told to leave or stay indoors with all their windows and doors closed. (all simulated). Sooke Firefighters set up decontamination equipment and called for help from the CRD Haz Mat team whose equipment is based in Central Saanich. (The CRD Haz Mat Team is comprised of members from Greater Victoria Fire Departments who have received extensive training and are certified Hazardous Materials Technicians - there are approximately 85 technicians within the CRD of which 6 are members of Sooke Fire Rescue) In this exercise, technicians from Sooke, Metchosin, Colwood, Saanich, Oak Bay and Central Saanich attended. With the arrival of the Hazardous Materials Truck, crews were put into Class A chemical suits and sent in to deal with the event. At the conclusion of this scenerio, crews broke for a lunch break and then went on to deal with a second scenerio that afternoon. This was a great training event for all the members, giving responders a chance to work with different groups and be better prepared for the real events when they occur.

Late Night Fire Concerns Firefighters

A late night fire in a 35 foot fifth wheel caused concerns and a few anxious momements for the 13 firefighters that responded at 3:00 am on Nov 17. The trailer was fully involved on arrival with an adjacent green house on neighbouring property also burning due to the extreme radiant heat. With the high winds embers were being blown throughout the area. Sooke Fire Rescue's newest Engine was the first apparatus on scene and quickly proved its worth as an effective firefighting tool. The second in Engine arrived from Station 2 and established a water supply from a nearby hydrant providing Engine 1 with more water. Engine 1-2 arrived next and was initially used to patrol the neighbourhood, checking for other fires that may have been caused by the flying embers.
Investigators returned that morning but were unable to determine a point of origin due to the extensive damage. However circumstances have concluded that the fire is suspicious in origin and the file has been turned over to the RCMP for follow up.

Roll Over MVI Challenges Firefighters

A single vehicle MVI on Sooke Road Monday evening took the ingenuity of firefighters to free the trapped driver. The victims car had hit a tree, rolled over onto its roof with the driver ejected partially through the windshield. The vehicle was quickly stabilized using the crew from Engine 2, while Engine 1 and Rescue 1 crews operated rescue tools and set up lighting. With the ALS ambulance crew seriously concerned over the victims deteriorating condition, firefighters used the Jaws of Life to cut all of the roof posts on one side of the car. Once cut, the winch was used to pull the car up and off the victim while at the same time the windshield was removed from around her torso. From arrival to final extrication, the entire task was completed in just under 30 minutes. Ambulance crews rushed her to VGH where she was placed into an induced coma, but at last report was said to be in good condition. While this was all going on, Squad 1 and Brush 2 set up traffic control to divert vehicles along Parklands Road. This was instrumental in keeping the scene safe while allowing traffic to flow. Sooke Road was closed for about 4 hours while the RCMP traffic analyst completed his investigation. BC Transit also called to commend the firefighters on their great efforts in allowing the busses to safely move on the winding, narrow detour road. This was a great effort by all emergency responders and all of you should be very proud of a job well done with a very successful outcome.

Metchosin Structure Fire Requires Mutual Aid

Metchosin Firefighters were summoned to a reported chimney fire in the 900 block of Kangaroo Road during the evening of Nov 3. Arriving on scene, Metchosin found they had a structure fire that was quickly escalating. With no hydrants in the area, a long steep driveway and limited access a call was placed for mutual aid. This included an 2 engines from Langford, a tender from Sooke and another tender from East Sooke. While Metchosin and some Langford crews worked the fire, the remaining crew from Langford and Sooke firefighters set up a relay pumping system and established a tender shuttle operation. Hose was pulled from the top of the hill, connected to a Metchosin Engine, down to the first Langford engine located part way along the driveway. This was then connected to the second Langford unit which was set up near Kangaroo Road, adjacent to the porta-tank. Tenders from Sooke and East Sooke then shuttled water from the nearest hydrant. The house, 4 storeys in height was now fully involved with flames at least 100 feet in the air. Despite the best efforts of many firefighters and the time it took to get a water supply established, the house was lost. Fortunately the gentlemen living in the home escaped with his dog. Crews were on scene for over 4 hours. Cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Chimney Fire Challenges Responders

A chimney fire at the 17 Mile House challenged firefighters on several front. Due to the location of the chimney on the building, the safest access was over the aerial ladder, however the only place this could be set up was on Sooke Road. This required a call to the RCMP to establish traffic control. On arrival, the occupants reported that the building was filling with smoke, that the walls were starting to get hot and that they had already tried using a dry chemical extinguisher to no avail. With this report and only a small number of Sooke Firefighters available, a call was placed to Metchosin FD to supply and engine for mutual aid. The fire was difficult to extinguish due to blockages in the chimney from creosote. These had to be broken apart to enable the fire to be fully extinguished. On checking the attic for possible fire extension, crews were very surprised to see some fairly extensive burning on the rafters and timbers in this area. While not a result of this fire, at some point in time a fairly good attic fire had occured in this building. After about 90 minutes, crews had successfully stopped the fire, confirmed it had not spread and were able to clear the scene.

Fact or Fiction

Not sure if it is the election in the air or what, but there seems to be a lot of misinformation about the fire department operations out there right now. I will try to clear some of that up with answers to the five most common rumours.

1) The first rumour is that the "fire department is overstaffed". As of the moment the fire department has five full time employees. Four firefighters and the fire chief. Of this, two are on duty from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm daily. They work a four day on, four day off rotation. During Monday to Friday, the Fire Chief is also in the office. This means that there are two firefighters available during the day + the fire chief on weekdays. The remainder of the fire department is VOLUNTEER. Almost the entire volunteer compliment of firefighters work in GREATER VICTORIA. There are only a small group that actually live and work in Sooke. This means that during the day, it is not unusual to have NO volunteers show up to assist the two career staff on duty although some days there may be as many as six. Therefore it is somewhat difficult to say that a staff of two would be considered overstaffed.
By the way, there are NO firefighters in the station from 6:00 pm to 7:00 am daily. If a call comes in, volunteers are alerted by pager and must respond from home to the station and then get their gear on, get on a fire truck and then respond.

2) Rumour #2. "Volunteer firefighters get paid too much." Volunteer firefighters in Sooke get paid $0.00 per call. Off duty career staff that respond on hours when they are not working get paid $0.00 per call. (they do not get overtime or days off in lieu either) I don't know how you can get more cost efficient than 0. Should we now make the volunteers pay to go to calls? Might make recruiting a little difficult. Volunteers don't even get reimbursed for their gas money. This is a true committment to help their community.

3) Rumour #3. "We don't even need a fire department". If the fire department ceased to exist, the average homeowner insurance policy would triple. Commercial rates would likely be even higher.

4) Rumour #4 "Sooke has too many fire trucks" With the current compliment of fire trucks, Sooke Fire Rescue Service meets the requirements of the 1986 Fire Underwriters Survey requirements for fire apparatus. This means we have sufficient apparatus to meet the needs of this community when it was evaluated 25 years ago.

5) Rumour #5 "Emergency Services in Sooke cost the taxpayers too much money" On a straight per capita basis (not really a fair way to evaluate this, however) the cost per person for Police and Fire Service in Sooke works out to $0.55 per person/ per day. This is much less than a cup of coffee at a local fast food restaraunt. If you want to divide by actual services, the fire department cost is $0.20 per day per person and policing costs are $0.35 per person per day.

If you have any other questions or concerns about the fire department, please call us. We would be happy to answer your enquiry.

Haz Mat call forces closure of Sooke Road

At the request of the RCMP, firefighters responded to a report of a car pulled over with a heavy chemical smell coming from the vehicle. On arrival, the police explained that they had pulled over a suspected impaired driver. When they got near the vehicle a very strong odour of chemicals was observed. Upon an inspection of the vehicle, several containers were located in the back of the van. Not sure of what was involved crews took no chances and called for the hazardous materials trailer to respond. Firefighters closed Sooke Rd between Drennan and Charters and set up the haz mat and decontamination gear on the roadway. Crews in Level B chemical suits moved in to clean out the van. It was determined that a large quantity of cleaning products were inside and that one large container had leaked, mixing with dry powdered bleach and other products thus producing potentially toxic gases. The containers were moved into secure storage and the van towed away for decontamination. The driver of the van refused medical treatment at the scene. One police officer was taken to hospital for observation after complaining of ill effects from being near the van. He was released later that night. After about two hours on scene, the site was cleared and ready for traffic.

Another Structure Fire

A second structure fire in less than a week kept emergency responders busy in Sooke. The original call came in at 10:30 am on the 11th of October as smoke in the structure. As this was a day time call and faced with the usual shortage of volunteer firefighters for this time of day and immediate request for mutual aid was placed. This turned out to be a very good call. On arrival, Car 1 observed dark smoke coming from the vents on the side of the 2-storey duplex and all the windows were blackened along the Delta side. Engine 1 with a 4 person crew, arrived and forced entry on the side door and began a left hand search as we did not know if anyone was in the building. There was a report of a cat and dog in the home. The smoke was so heavy crews had very little visibility and could not see the seat of the fire. Searching the first room they entered (a bedroom) crews encountered a door without any door handles. It was later determined that the basement of this side of the duplex and had been illegally converted into a suite and the door without a handle entered the other suite. (this could have proved very dangerous if something had gone wrong and the firefighters had to make a quick escape) The Chief of Shirley FD who was in the area, heard the call and also attended. Engine 2 now arrived with a crew of 2 and set up for RIT. (a total of only 7 Sooke Firefighters responded) A few minutes later, an Engine from Otter Point FD arrived with a crew to provide backup. The fire was located and quickly extinguished. It originated on the top of the stove. While the fire damage was limited, heat and smoke damage was extensive throughout the suite. As the fire separation between the upper and lower suite was not adequate, light smoke damage was also found on the second floor. (neither tenant was insured). The dog was located in a kennel and was ok, but the cat was found semi-concious in the kitchen area. The cat was brought out and the ambulance crew adminstered oxygen which did revive the cat. It was later sent to a vet and at last report appeared to be ok. It was very fortunate that the passerby had seen the fire and called in. A few more minutes and the building like would have been fully involved.

Fire Prevention Week

This years fire prevention week was a major success with firefighters (and some ESS personnel) involved in a variety of activities. Beginning with an open house at the Fire Station on Thursday it was estimated that between 250 and 300 persons came to visit. While Sparky the Fire Dog and Puff the Fire Clown keep the kids (and adults) entertained with balloon animals and high fives there were many other things to do as well. Trying out the fire hose was very popular as was a jump in the bounce house. The ladder truck was demonstrated and the big Canada Day flag was a great way to draw people in. Dozens of bags of popcorn were handed out and we went through 7 dozen hot dogs. And while this was going on, a crew still managed to take the Otter Point FD down to Mariners to spend a couple of hours going through our expectations of what we would want them to do if a major event were to occur.

Thanks to leg work by Neil, the Pizza Delivery teams did a great job (well most of you) Thanks to support from Andys 2 for 1 Pizza and Sooke Home Hardware firefighters tagged along with the pizza delivery guy for a special incentive. If you agreed to let the firefighters into your home and let them test your smoke alarm (and it worked) you would get a 50% off your next pizza coupon. If it did not work, crews would install a new battery for you. If you had no detector, then a new unit would be supplied and installed. What a great program and great PR.

Then on Saturday, Fire and ESS personnel set up a home safety display at Sooke Home Hardware. Hundreds of people stopped by to ask questions on fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, emergency preparedness and even look at the 72 hour emergency kit.

All in all a great FPW for 2011. Thanks to all those that assisted and made these events so great.