The Fraser Lake Fire Rescue Training Society has broken ground on a new Regional Training Centre which will allow firefighters to have more realistic training.
According to Dave Christie, president of the Fraser Lake Fire Rescue Training Society, smaller volunteer fire departments generally do not have the capacity to conduct live burns. Training consists of using theatric smoke and blindfolds to simulate a smoke-filled room, and buckets and tires to aim for with a charged fire hose.
“There is really nothing realistic about it,” said Christie. “With long wait times and very limited space in the one training centre which services the northwest and northeast located in Fort St. James, many volunteer fire departments are struggling to get firefighters trained.”
“With the new training requirements that fire departments need to train to for exterior attack, interior attack, or both, firefighters need a training centre with real scenarios to train with,” he added. “Seeing, feeling, and understanding real fire behaviour along with new firefighting techniques will save lives and reduce damage to structures when the real event occurs.”
Although it is called a ‘Regional Training Centre,’ firefighters in the region won’t likely be using the new training centre.
“We only have two hours to practice, so we don’t have time to drive to Fraser Lake to use the facility,” explained Burns Lake fire chief Rob Krause.
The Burns Lake Fire Department has been developing its own training centre for the past three years at Babine Lake Road.
“We’ve already done some training out there and we have a society that is raising funds for [further development of] the training grounds,” said Krause.
Fraser Lake’s Regional Training Centre site broke ground on Aug. 16, 2017. The Fraser Lake Fire Rescue Training Society, which was formed in May 2017, has received full support from the Village of Fraser Lake, fire departments in the region, area industry, utility companies and the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, according to Christie.
The society obtained land with the agreement that land would need to be cleared, developed and maintained at the cost of the society.
According to Christie, the next steps are to obtain funding through other grant opportunities which will fund the purchase of a live fire burn building and a wildfire sprinkler protection unit.
The goal of the society is to have the Regional Training Centre starting operations in the summer of 2018.
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