Law enforcement personnel from throughout the B.C. Interior may soon be honing their firearms skills in Salmon Arm.
A planned expansion to the Salmon Arm Fish and Game Club is aiming to make it the range of choice in the area.
Lionel Aadland, the Fish and Game Club’s treasurer, went before Salmon Arm Council at its Sept. 12 meeting requesting council’s permission to expand their facilities on their existing property to include three new ranges reserved exclusively for law enforcement use. Council approved the request.
The expansion will consist of a new rifle range, handgun range and tactical range.
“In a normal range we can fire down a very narrow course of fire, so you’re looking straight ahead and that’s where you can shoot at a specific target. In a tactical range they might be able to shoot safely over a 200 degree arc and the range will be completely enclosed within earthen berms. It allows police to train in more realistic scenarios,” said Fish and Game Club range officer Neil Wuolle.
Along with local RCMP members, Wuolle said the facility could be used by RCMP from other parts of the Interior and other law enforcement personnel such as conservation officers.
Wuolle said the range could possibly be completed by the end of the month.
The expansion will be funded by the club, but the costs of its construction and maintenance will be recuperated by renting the range to law enforcement agencies.
Wuolle estimated construction of the new range will cost approximately $20,000.
The growth of the Fish and Game Club’s membership in recent years is one reason for the expansion. Wuolle said as the club’s membership is approaching 700, scheduled range time for law enforcement is becoming more restrictive for the members.
“We’ve always been a facility that welcomes law enforcement,” Wuolle said.
