Help will be that much closer to many Kettle Valley residents, now that the Midway Volunteer Fire Department’s satellite hall has opened approximately five kilometres east of the Highway 3/33 junction in Rock Creek.
First responders from Big White and Anarchist, all the way through to Christina Lake were on-hand Sunday to support their West Boundary colleagues in unveiling the building, which will house a tanker truck and a pumper truck for the Midway fire department. Previously, the vehicles were housed on private property.
“It’s huge,” said Midway fire chief Walt Osselame, on the impact the building will have on his crew’s ability to offer emergency services in the West Boundary.
“There were times when there were many more calls out this way than there ever were out in Midway,” the chief said at the building’s grand opening on Sunday.
Fire coverage in Rock Creek has been spotty, since there has not been a dedicated Rock Creek Fire Department for the region. Restricted by its own parameters, the Midway department had arranged to respond to calls from Rock Creek residents who had individually bought into the protection service. Nevertheless, data from 2017 shows that the Midway department responded to more calls outside of the Midway Response Zone (25) than it did within (23).
After a 2016 area referendum, the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary moved forward with the Village of Midway to form a partnership with the village’s fire department and secure the Kettle Valley Fire Service.
“There was a need for it, but of course, costs are just astronomical,” said Osselame about why a partnership with his department proved to be more viable than creating an independent Rock Creek fire department.
Having the new satellite hall also means that Rock Creek’s fire protection grade gets a boost. Where the region previously sat at a Grade 4 (minimum criteria for a dwelling protection), it has been bumped up a notch to a 3B – the highest possible grade the service could achieve without a public water system.
To keep the Grade, Osselame said, the department also needs to maintain its volunteers. While the Midway Volunteer Fire Department counts more than 40 volunteers today, Osselame said that they are always looking for new members.
“If we don’t have people that are prepared to come and be trained, give up a few hours a week to do some training and commit to that, then we can’t help people,” the chief said.
“This can’t happen unless we have volunteers.”
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