The Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department has just released call statistics for last year.
In 2018, the department responded to 443 fire calls, including 221 group pages (meaning more members than just the duty officer responded).
Members attended 10 structure fires, 10 vehicle fires, four fires at local mills and six other small fire involving various items such as dumpsters, snowblowers, and lawnmowers, according to Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department chief Sylvain Gauthier.
READ MORE: Fire destroys home on Jay Road in South Quesnel
According to an email from Gauthier, the total value of property at risk was estimated to be around the $7.3 million dollars, and total loss to fire was estimated at about $1.6 million.
“We also saw five new members joining the volunteer fire department, bringing in our total number to 39 volunteer members. In total [in 2018] the members have volunteered just over 9,000 man hours,” said Gauthier.
Members of the Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the wildfires in the Burns Lake area over the summer of 2018, deploying eight members over a total of 28 days.
“Each members worked an average of 90 hours during their seven-day deployment,” said Gauthier.
READ MORE: Quesnel deploys firefighters, water tender to aid Burns Lake
