Waves of envy are already flowing in as North Westside is about to claim a unique piece of firefighting equipment.
The North Westside Fire Rescue service is gaining a fire boat to better protect its land, residents, and neighbours.
“There’s nobody in Canada, at least Western Canada for sure, that has a boat dedicated for fire protection,” said Jim Edgson, Central Okanagan West director, who has received inquiries about the boat from the Shuswap, Kootenays and Revelstoke.
“It’s a gigantic floating fire hydrant.”
While there are fire and rescue boats out there (both of which this new boat also the capability of), this vessel will provide an endless supply of water to the community.
Fire chief Wayne Carson confirms that it will likely be one of the first mobile water marine units of its kind in Canada.
“We’re very pleased as a fire department that it’s finally happened,” said Carson of the boat that came in under budget at $216,935 and after more than five years of trying to get it, the boat expected to arrive sometime in August.
“This is absolutely one of the most essential pieces of equipment we’ve got.”
Even though North Westside borders Okanagan Lake, water supply concerns plague the local fire department. What little lake access is available is dangerous for the department to get in and out of, plus there is the fact that all water supply is cut off whenever the power is out.
“We can’t get at the water, the boat will solve that problem,” said Carson. “There’s gotta be at least a couple billion gallons of water out there so I’m not going to run out of water.
“You talk to any chief anywhere in the world and ask him what he would give for an unlimited water supply.”
With that access brings increased fire protection, not just for North Westside.
“Anybody who lives within 300 metres of the lake in the North Okanagan and Central Okanagan has just gotten a boost in their level of fire protection,” said Carson.
But it’s not just lakefront owners that will benefit from the increase fire protection.
Since the boat gives fire fighters an endless supply of water, they can transport water to upland residents and can supply sprinklers with water if there a wildfire threat (like there was in 2009).
“It’s elevated everybody in the district’s level of fire protection,” said Carson, also noting that lake rescue times will be significantly cut in the region.
And when an emergency strikes in a neighbouring area, the boat could be a valuable resource
“If it’s sitting there and our neighbours house is burning down or the forest is burning down like in the 2003 fire we’re going to go and help them,” said Edgson, adding the cost of the boat is about half of what it would cost to get an inland tendor.
But not everyone is on board with the new boat, which has had some opposition over the years.
“I know there’s people that are still upset about it but I think we’ve got something that everybody should be proud of,” said Edgson, adding that tax increase to pay for the boat remained minimal at $2.95 for the average $440,000 home.
The next step is to find a home for the boat.
A boat house location is being looked at around Killiney Beach, but negotiations are still underway for the $30,000 structure.
Meanwhile, the North Westside Fire Fighters Society has established a fund to raise money for a rail system to efficiently launch the boat from its house into the water.
The boat house will also be named after one of the department’s fire fighters, Regan Toker, who was killed in an industrial accident in West Kelowna earlier this year.
Other efforts are also underway on land to improve water access.
Construction of a $539,000 booster pump building (adjacent to Fintry Delta Road) for the new Upper Fintry, Shalal Road and Valley of the Sun water system is about to get underway. The building is part of the overall $6 million water system, which will provide domestic and fire protection water flows to approximately 341 unserviced properties.
“Not only with drinking water and fire protection, it’s the first system that we’ve got out here where they’re actually going to have back up generators on the pumps,” said Edgson.
The project is expected to be complete later this year.
