Britannia Beach Fire Department volunteers are renowned for their hard work, but everyone has limits.
In response, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District is now reducing the range of the service area the volunteer fire department has to cover.
“They have too big an area,” Area D director Tony Rainbow said. “It was unrealistic.”
Over the summer, the SLRD began plans to amend the Howe Sound East Fire Protection Services Establishment Bylaw, which would reduce the amount of Crown land the fire department at Britannia Beach is responsible for.
Instead, the Crown would take responsibility for it, Rainbow said.
The changes would also reduce the amount of unoccupied privately held land the department has to cover.
As well, as part of the changes, the board directed staff to make mapping changes to reflect the new service area and correct an existing mapping error concerning part of Lions Bay that falls within the jurisdiction of the Greater Vancouver Regional District.
A specific area of concern for the department is how far south it can send crews to cover fires.
The department had to respond to a fire in Lions Bay last year, and the regional district now wants to establish a mutual aid agreement with the community in light of the costs of providing fire service.
“We got a big bill,” Rainbow said.
An SLRD report puts the cost at $2,000.
The fire started in the Brunswick Beach area north of Lions Bay because someone improperly extinguished a campfire. The area was difficult to access and required help from CN Rail vehicles in order to transport crews and equipment to the fire.
Fire department chief Steve Virgint agrees the department has had to head a little far south to provide service, not only from the Lions Bay situation last year, but also because of a wildfire south of Porteau Cove in 2013.
“We’re getting a long way down there,” he said.
In that case, the fire took place on private and Crown lands in an area where no structures were threatened. BC Wildfire Service was also on the scene to help, but Britannia Beach firefighters were there for three-and-a-half days around the clock. No cause was determined for the fire.
The changes at the regional district level are supposed to clarify the department’s coverage area, with the aim of not over-extending the volunteers or have them preoccupied by a fire outside their normal area in the event another fire starts close to Britannia Beach subsequently.
In the case of the fire in 2015, the crews were more than 20 kilometres away from their fire hall, leaving them at some distance to respond in the event of a fire in the service areas of Britannia Beach and Furry Creek.
In other department news, the Britannia Beach Fire Department is also awaiting delivery of its new custom rescue truck, which should arrive this month.
