A blaze that ravaged a home in Paradise Valley is providing a tough reminder that there can be blind spots in fire service in rural areas.
Locals are scrambling to raise money for BJ Lawless via an online crowdfunding campaign.
“My dear friend and co-worker BJ Lawless suffered a great loss when her entire trailer and add-on burned down to the ground in Paradise Valley last week,” wrote Eliza Carter on gofundme.com.
“It was outside of the Squamish fire dept. jurisdiction and she had to wait while it burned down with no recourse. She lost everything she had except for some winter clothes. Luckily she and her two dogs weren't inside when it happened.”
The jurisdiction of the District of Squamish ends at the Jack Webster Bridge, which is past Midnight Way. Everything in Paradise Valley before this point is the municipality’s responsibility.
District spokesperson Christina Moore said the fire was outside the town’s boundary and therefore Squamish Fire Rescue didn’t respond.
However, it falls within the bounds of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.
The emergency program manager for the SLRD couldn’t reveal the identity of the person affected by the fire, but confirmed there was a blaze in Paradise Valley at the time Lawless reportedly lost her home.
“It is within the jurisdiction of the SLRD but it does not have fire protection,” said Ryan Wainwright.
“We have some areas that have fire protection, but many areas that don’t.”
Wainwright said he didn’t know what caused the blaze.
He added that the person was offered emergency social services, but turned them down as she was getting help from friends and family.
Emergency social services, which are provided by the province, offer food, shelter and clothing to those affected by disaster.
In this case, services would have covered those basics for about 72 hours.
Fire rescue services in regional districts can differ significantly from municipalities.
Unlike in a municipality, where fire service is given by default, residents in rural parts of the regional district have to ask local government for a service area.
Getting the funds together is the next challenge.
When it comes to finding tax dollars to pay for fire rescue, residents who live in the area are entirely responsible for pay their own fire service.
That’s because with regional districts, each area is divided into its own individual cost centre, and tax dollars can’t be moved between each cost centre.
So for instance, tax dollars from Squamish aren’t allowed to go to people in Area D, the rural region surrounding town.
“If people pay in for a service, they must receive all the benefits of that service,” said Wainwright.
Additional money can be injected into an area through grants and other methods, but fire departments are expensive, he said.
“Make sure that when you move into an area, you understand whether or not you have fire protection,” said Wainwright.
“Most areas of the province — especially rural areas — don’t have fire protection.”
Those who wish to donate to the fire relief fund can do so here:
www.gofundme.com/help-bj-rebuild.
***This story has been corrected. The bridge's name is in fact the Jack Webster Bridge, not the Bill Webster Bridge.
