Big News

Congratulations to Cam Norris-Jones. With the approval of the budget at council on Monday night, the fifth firefighter position is official. This is great news for the department. Not only does it provide us with another firefighter during the critical day time part of the day when most of the volunteers are out working, it will allow us to provide additional training time on weekends, more opportunities to get out in the public and provide fire and life safety education programs and more opportunities to get those inspections done. It also takes a load off the officers shoulders as they now only have to worry about the night portion of the duty shift as the day time hours will be covered by the paid crew. So, on July 5th, we will be switching to 7 day a week coverage, with crews rotating an 11 hour shift doing a 4 day on, 4 day off rotation. Hopefully this is the start of many great new things to come for the department.

Next Weeks Events

Next week is a busy busy schedule as there are two - count em, two council meetings to attend. This is to enable the 2010 financial plan to be approved as well as several public hearings are also being presented.
Congratulations to this years recruit class on completing their training and also all of their written exams. On to the practical testing this weekend. Best of luck guys. Looking forward to that dinner you will be preparing.
We are about to start another recruiting drive. We are down to 42 members so we have room for eight new persons. If you know of anyone that might make a good candidate, please encourage them to apply.
This weekend is the Great Lioness Duck Race. If you are able to help with the Bounce House, please be at the flats at about 11:30. Next weekend is the grand opening of the Spirit Square and the new Performing Arts Stage at McGregor Park - This will take place on Sunday, May 16th. The FF Association was offered and agreed to run the hot dog and popcorn concession as a fundraiser. Please contact me as to who will be attending. May 29th is Western Foods Anniversary Sale. Again we will be preparing hot dogs and running the bounce house. All proceeds are donated to the Association so a good turnout would be appreciated especially considering how much Western Foods supports our efforts in the community.
McHappy Day was a big success however I did not see any firefighters in attendance. We raised a considerable amount of money for Ronald McDonald House. I even learned how to cook a McDonalds Burger and how to put fries in a container. May be a use for me after this job after all.

Dinner Plans

If you don't have dinner plans or just want to help a good cause, I will be at the Sooke McDonalds on Wednesday, May 5th is support of McHappy Day from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. Stop by for a Big Mac or provide a donation to support Ronald McDonald House.

Parking Issues

The District of Sooke along with the local emergency services are looking at all areas where parking is a problem and access for emergency vehicles is difficult. This may include narrow streets with parking on one or both sides, turnarounds and cul de sacs where people are parking, fire lanes, and other emergency access points. We are about to have a strategy meeting on how to deal with these issues. If you know of places where this is a problem, please let me know so we can add these locations to our list.

Committee of the Whole

Last nights COW meeting featured a presentation by Sooke Youth Group on all of the work they have been doing in the community. Lots of inititave shown here and as a fire department, we should continue to support the good work they do. Staff Sergeant Wright gave a talk on policing and the results of their recent audit. He also outlined where they will be concentrating their resources and what the community priorities are.
An application for a Development Permit for the new Shoppers Drug Mart was reviewed by council. This is a rather large building proposed for the Evergreen Mall and will take up almost 18,000 sq feet of space as well as complete reconfiguration of the parking lot, landscaping and entrance way. They hope to have construction completed and doors open by November 25th.

Emergency Prepardness

Two displays, the Rotary Auction at the Arena followed by the Emergency Prepardness Expo at the Juan de Fuca Libaray were well represented by Sooke Firefighters and a handful of ESS personnel. The crew at the Rotary Auction handed out many home prepardness packages to local residents and even had a couple of draw prizes to give away. There seemed to be a lot of interest by local residents in being prepared and what we can offer for assistance. The Emergency Fair the next day in Colwood proved to be a bit of challenge with the cold and blustery weather. Sooke had two of the fire truck bounce houses up and attracted many kids. We also managed to spend some time talking with other ESS groups and viewing their set ups. It was felt that our best course of action is to acquire another trailer and set it up with emergency supplies to be better prepared for disaster relief. We may also be in line for some emergency supplies through Shelter Box and the Rotary Club. More information will follow as that becomes available.

I'm Back

Sorry to have been away for this for a while but things have been rather busy as of late. I will try to give you a summary of things that have happened over the past two weeks. To start with, Chris and I along with Russ Nicks of whale watching fame and Ron of Eagle Eye along with Sean our university student and finally Sarah from the municipal office traveled to Vancouver a couple of weekends ago where we set up the Sooke Booth at the Vancouver Outdoor and Adventure Show. This seemed to be a very popular show as there were thousands of people in attendance, many of whom stopped by the Sooke Booth to visit, talk or find out what was going on. I would have to say it was a huge success. The booth received many compliments and we were invited to take it to several other shows including Tradex at Abbotsford, Calgary and even Toronto. Guess we will have to wait and see on those. With some new refinements, we have cut down construction time to only about 6 or 7 hours now, but it still takes upwards of 4 or 5 hours to dismantle and put away. Many District of Sooke employees got to find out just how much work it is as we set it up again at the Rotary Auction this past weekend. Again, many good reviews as well as finding another use for the "Boardwalk" - It makes a great stage - who knew? Anyway, it is now safely packed away until the next show - whereever that may be.