In terms of response during the games, we have been able to secure provincial funding that will cover wages and administration to provide full time coverage by a fire crew. This means that 24 hours a day during the games our firehall will be manned by four firefighters who will be able to provide immediate response not only the incidents on the highway but also to any incident within the village.

We have also been able to secure funding which is allowing us to prepare and deliver a comprehensive heavy rescue and mass casualty course that will prepare us for possibility of a bus incident on the highway. This course is not only being delivered to our own members, but we are also training senior members of both Whistler Fire, and Squamish Fire in a ‘train the trainer’ capacity so that they can then return and train their own personnel.

Finally, in terms of highway safety we have been sending letters and pictures to the province to ensure they know about any potential safety issues.

Another exciting exercise that we are working at facilitating is a mutl-agency mass casualty scenario where we hope to simulate a bus over an embankment. Using real people as patients, we will work together with other Fire Departments, Police, Ambulance, and Coast Guard to bring the scenario to a successful conclusion.

All in All we are very excited about the games, and very excited about  the new levels of training we are able to provide to the corridor.

On other fronts we have been busy with many other things as well. Our crews have just finished a three month high angle rope rescue program, and we are now working on training a new group of Emergency Vehicle Operators to drive and operate our new fire engine. We are currently  in the process of updating all pre-fire plans for the village. Theseplans are done on all commercial properties, municipal buildings as well as the condos, so that we are informed on any potential hazards, and it also provides the incident commander with valuable information to help them build an effective plan of attack.

Other exciting news... We have recently had some renewed interest from three local homeowners who have chosen to make the commitment and join our ranks Stuart Hood, Martin Berneburg, and Robert Van Ginkel.

As you know the majority of our fire department consists of young men and women who have come out of fire academy looking to gain experience while they work to get hired on a career department. They are of course a valuable part of our department, but it’s always great to see  local residents who are willing to come out and protect the residents and properties of our community. We hope these three new members will be with us for years to come. You will likely see these three new firefighters out testing the flow of our fire hydrants through out the village.

That’s all from the Fire Department. Stay safe.

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