Rick Stiebel – Sooke News Mirror
You’re never really off duty when you’re the chief.
Sooke Fire Rescue Chief Kenn Mount was a passenger in his personal vehicle, doing some driver training with his son, Jackson, when duty called.
Mount spotted a fire in a couple of recycling bins on Throupe Road on Sunday, Aug. 12 just after 8 p.m. and sprang into action.
ALSO READ: Heat and smoke raises health risks
“I sized up the incident, called it in and provided information for the responders,” Mount said, adding that he was limited to what he could do without proper firefighting gear.
The residents were trying to put out the fire with buckets of water, so Mount asked if there was a garden hose handy and assured them help was on the way. He praised the quick response of the volunteers on duty at the time for helping save a nearby tree.
“By the time the engine got there was just a smouldering mess of plastic. My son has grown up around fire halls and is thinking about being a police officer, so he found the incident pretty intriguing.”
Mount said it’s standard practice for firefighters to have their radio and pager available at all times because they always have to be ready to respond and protect the community.
Mount said the cause of the fire is unknown and suspicious in nature, so he called the RCMP to investigate.
“This is the second recycling bin fire we’ve had this year,” he noted. “Our level of awareness goes up when we see what could be a trend.”
