Keremeos volunteer firefighters will hopefully be receiving some well deserved praise following last weekend’s blazes in the village.
Both fires were well underway prior to the department’s dispatch. A prompt response on Saturday likely saved the whole building from being gutted.
There was a good response in turnout numbers for the department, especially when one notes the time of the outbreak – at 7:30 on a Saturday evening, chances are good that many firefighters were otherwise occupied at the time of the call.
On Monday morning, their efforts were even more commendable. Less than 36 hours later, in windy, cold conditions and using turnout gear that hadn’t had time to be properly cleaned or dried out following the Saturday fire, the volunteers were still effective in controlling the blaze to a single building, in a scenario that could have seen a portion of the downtown core completely destroyed.
It has been a very difficult couple of months for the Keremeos fire department, with respect to the number of serious fires they have attended since the end of November last year. Residents of the Lower Similkameen need to put more effort into fire awareness, and take more precautions to ensure they aren’t the cause of more unnecessary structure fires.
They owe it to the village’s firefighters, if for no other reason.
