WOW!

Those are the only words (well there may be others) to describe the new video just launched that will be featured in the Sooke display on BC Streets as part of the OZONE in Richmond. Check out the accompanying website too! I will bet you never knew all the things that there were to do in Sooke to Port Renfrew that are featured. Truly amazing and breathtaking. If this doesn't attract visitors to our region, nothing will. It is quite remarkable how well matched the video is to the display. Here is the link: http://www.sooke2010.com/

Shelter Box Canada Presentation

A very informative and emotional presentation was made last night by Shelter Box Canada representatives. A video showing how this program started and where all these boxes have gone over the past 10 years since the programs inception was made. With the money we have raised so far, we can now purchase 6 boxes that will be deployed to Haiti. As Shelter Box is a regeisterd charity, the Federal Goverment will also provide matching funds into Haiti relief efforts. The other neat thing about the box is that our name will be placed on the box along with a tracking number so that by going on their website, we can track the box to its final destination.

Another fund raising idea was also presented to us. Don, the manager of Shelter Box Canada has offered us a tent or two and one of the Shelter Box kits to set up somewhere in which we could have a "Camp-a-thon" A group of firefighters could spend 24 or 48 hours in the tent(s), sell hot dogs or burgers and take pledges for camping out. Let me know what you think of the idea. It doesn't have to be done right away as I am sure the need for these boxes will continue forever. Maybe by years end, we can raise enough funds to buy ten boxes (we already have 6) and then look at buying one or more a year from then on. Let me know what you think.

Links to Shelter Box - www.shelterbox.ca or www.shelterboxcanada.blogspot.com

Crash, bang, boom

Motor vehicle incidents still seem to be the majority of our responses this month. Last night was no exception as crews were out to two more crashes. The first on Gillespie Road heavily damaged a car when it spun off the road backwards, hit a rock, jumped a ditch, hit a sign and then landed back on the road facing the way it came. Debris was everywhere with the car battery some 10m from the vehicle. The two occupants were already out on arrival and sitting in another car. EHS crews with the assistance of firefighters removed one patient with spinal precautions. The road was then cleaned up and the vehicle towed. Just a few hours later, shortly after midnight we were off again for a roll over crash in the 5100 block of Sooke Rd. A small pickup truck left the road, hit the rock face and landed drivers side down. Occupants escaped through the sliding rear window without injury. In both cases the vehicles were totalled. Police are investigating the cause of both incidents. (nice to see everyone wearing their safety vests too!)

Burning Regulations for the District of Sooke

There still seems to be a lot of confusion as to when residents can do outdoor burning in Sooke. Burning is permitted from October 1 to April 30 ONLY when the Venting Index as set by Environment Canada is rated GOOD. There are three ratings, Good, Fair and Poor. Only a GOOD rating for Southern Vancouver Island are days burning is permitted. To find out the Venting Index go to the following website: http://www.weatheroffice.pyr.ec.gc.ca/wxhealth/smoke/forecast_e.html?Smoke=YYJ

Note: The penalty for burning on poor or fair venting days or from May 1 to September 30 can be a ticket for $200.00. So better to check the forecast than get the ticket. For additional information check the District of Sooke Website at www.sooke.ca and look for Burning Regulations.

If you find someone burning on a day that is not permitted contact the Sooke Fire Rescue Service at 250 642-5422 during regular office hours. After hours and on weekends you can call our dispatcher - Langford Fire Department at 250 478-9555 and request the Sooke Duty Officer be called out for your complaint.

Fund Raising Update

Awesome - this is the word that describes the continuing fund raising efforts being held to raise money to purchase Shelter Boxes for Haiti. With the efforts of all the volunteers today at both Western and Village Foods another $1500.00 was taken in. It is our hope that with the Sooke Rotary Club assistance we will eventually raise enough funds to purchase 10 of the Shelter Boxes. With todays contributions we are almost half way there. Thanks to everyone that has helped and continues to offer their assistance. Hey, does anyone have any other good fund raising ideas?

On another note, my efforts of preparing for the half marathon held during the Winter Olympics continues (bet you didn't know there was a half marathon during the Winter Olympics did you? well neither did I) Anyway today was only an 18km run. As I now creak around the house, the only thing I have found worse on the body than an 18km run was the 20km I did last week. Here is a fund raising idea. Perhaps the Association, individuals or ????????????? would sponsor me for every km I run this year. How does $1.00 km sound? You don't have to sponsor every km, just pick as many as you want at $1.00 per. I will accept any and all pledges. I can post the totals and provide regular updates on this blog. Anyone willing to gamble on how far an old fire chief can run in a year? All funds raised will go towards buying an additional Shelter Box.

Ozone Update

First off, some of you may be wondering what the Ozone actually is. Well, in a nutshell this is a huge festival to be held in Richmond coinciding with the Olympics. The site is in and around Richmond City Hall and civic centres and features an outdoor ice rink, a huge outdoor theatre where many well known musical groups will play concerts, the huge Holland House that has been one of the more popular venues at past Olympics and the BC Street. This is where we will be. Sooke has secured a 40 x 20 ft booth and will be one of several BC Communities that will be showcasing everything that we have to offer from Sooke to Port Renfrew. The site is a 10 minute walk from the Olympic skating oval and is adjacent to the new Canada Line light rail system. Oh and the really neat thing is that it is entirely free to the public. Orgainzers expect that 400,000 + people will pass through the site over its duration. So this is what is taking up one bay in the fire hall. Many, many people are working on this project and it is all starting to come together. The volunteers to run the booth for the 17 days have also all been secured. The background consisting of a photograph 52 feet long by 8 ft high was delivered today and will soon be mounted. (the photo is a view of the harbour as would be taken from the boardwalk) This is why you get to view the booth from a scaled replica of the boardwalk. The killer whale that will be a central feature is nearing completion and has filled the fire hall with dust (we have been promised it will be cleaned up) The video display is nearly completed as well as many other components. It will be worth your while to visit during the upcoming open house on Feb 6.

Haiti Fundraising

With the overwhelming success of last weeks fundraising effort in front of Western Foods (thanks to Western for the hot dog donation)where we managed to raise over $2600.00, we are going to try again this weekend. Another hot dog sale will take place in front of Western from 10 - 2 on Saturday and then from 11 - 3 on Sunday. This weekend we will also have a collection point in front of Village Foods and possibly other locations too! With the help of some District of Sooke staff and the Rotary Club, we hope to be able to blanket the area with volunteer fundraisers and double our money. We have decided to use the money to buy shelter boxes (a Rotary project) with the funds collected. Each of these boxes holds shelter and enough supplies to look after a family of ten for up to six months. With the improvements in the Canadian dollar, these boxes have been reduced to $1000.00 each. The Shelter Box program started in the UK and now has a Canadian division that is based in Victoria. As such, I contacted the director and he will be bringing a shelter box to the fire hall this upcoming Thursday for us to look at. If it seems suitable, we may look at acquiring some of these to supplement our newly formed ESS program as a means of providing shelter to Sooke residents if we are faced with a disaster. (No, we are not using the fundraising money for this) Anyway, if you want to see what a Shelter Box is all about, come by the main fire station at 7:00 pm on Thursday.

Another day, another crash

Sooke Firefighters were called out Sunday afternoon for another MVI. This one was just past the 17 Mile House and involved a single vehicle that left the road. It jumped a ditch and hit a hydro pole head on, breaking the pole at the base. The driver and elderly passenger were very fortunate in that they did not sustain any serious injuries, although both were transported to hospital by EHS. RCMP are investigating the incident. This is getting to be a tough stretch of road.

New Poll

As you can see, there is a new poll for you to review. Basically it asks if you would like to see Association meeting nights once a month or every second month. (the executive would have the authorization to pay bills on your behalf and we would provide meeting time on training nights if something serious came up that needed immediate attention. Let me know what you think.

As for the past poll on paid on call - it was almost a 50/50 split on going paid on call or leaving it as is. Of those that were in favour of paid on call, the majority thought the pay level should be between $15.00 and $20.00 per hour. This will be discussed at the upcoming Association meeting and hopefully a committee will be struck to review what we will do. (this was mentioned at the first meeting of the year if you recall)

Thanks for your participation in these polls. Is there anything else you think we could discuss in this format? Let me know your ideas.

Help for Haiti

An overwhelming success are the only words I could use to describe how well the hot dog and fund raiser for Haiti went this weekend. A remarkable $2686.00 was collected over two four hour periods. Thanks so much to everyone that helped and to the public that contributed. It was especially heartwarming to see the two small children come up with their parents and give us a large jar of coins they had collected. Turns out it had over $180.00 in it. According to their parents, it was all their idea. This more than makes up (well almost) for the guy that spat at Bob Hudson as he passed by in his vehicle saying we were wasting are time collecting money for ..................... (as this is a family blog, I won't use the words he said to describe people that live in Haiti) Anyway, other than that isolated incident - WOW - great job everyone. Oh and thanks again to Western Foods for supporting us as they always do. And Rob Peters of Sooke Moving and Storage for the use of his hot dog cart again. Lots of good community minded folks in this town.

Fire Investigation Course

Due to many factors, the Fire Investigation class we had hoped to do at the old Manuel Quimper Motel has been delayed. However, we have managed to secure and confirm a date which will be September 21 - 24. It appears that interest in this course is widespread and should be quite an experience for all those involved. We have even been offered special room rates at the Sooke Harbour Marina for those wanting to stay in the community for the program which will likely run for 4 days. Thanks to Mike Barrie and the Mariners Development for providing us with thiis unique opportunity by donating the building to such a worthy cause.

Not Again!

Here we go again was my first thought when I heard the page out for an MVI near the 17 Mile House involving a logging truck and wires down. People were still talking about the logging truck crash in October and now another one just a few hundred meters from the previous incident. On arrival we found that at least this time it was only phone and cable lines that were down and not hydro which made things a little easier. The driver was out of his rig and suffered only a slight injury to his head which was quickly attended to by EHS. The truck and all its load lay spread across both lanes of traffic and into the ditch. There was no way anyone was going to get through and as it was on the Sooke side of Gillepsie Road, there was no way around unless you choose the long route through Port Renfrew. Based on past experience, I figured it would be at least three hours before we could get even one lane of traffic through. Thus the giant traffic jam started. Crews set up at the Fuse Restaurant and began turning people around. At the accident scene, firefighters controlled the leaking fluids and then began walking down the line to notify those trapped in traffic that it would be some time before they could pass. Even the police officer on his way to work in Victoria that flashed his badge and said he had to get past could not get through (turns out he did not have a flying car) Part way down the line I ran into the owner of HHS Blasting who told me he had an 8 ton crane truck trapped on the other side of the incident and would it be of any use. This was certainly worth looking into. Turns out the crane would work and they were able to move the truck and trailer off the road. Now at least one lane of traffic could flow. With the assistance of another logging truck and backhoe from Mainroad, the logs were either pushed off the road or loaded onto the truck and taken away. A quick scrape of the roadway with the backhoe and washdown with R-2 and the road was now passable in both directions and it only took about three hours (good guess eh). The tow truck hadn't even shown up yet. If we had to wait for it, people would have been in line for 5 or 6 hours. So thanks to a combined effort and the HHS crane, hundreds, if not thousands of people were able to get home in half the time it would have taken without the help. As for the cause, it appears that a piece of the truck may have broken causing the load to shift. The driver was not speeding from witness accounts, so it appears to be an actual accident. I suppose the RCMP and Commercial Vehicle Inspector will have the final say on that but sometimes stuff just happens.

Calling all Superbowl Fans

Hey - are you a big fan of the Superbowl. The Sooke Firefighters Association will be showing the game on the big screen. Doors open at 12:30 - February 12th in the Firefighters Lounge.
They are also considering showing the mens gold medal olympic hockey game. Look for further announcements on this one.

Road Carnage Continues

Seems that this is the year for motor vehicle crashes as the fire department responds to what appears to be an endless supply. Two pedestrian struck calls have been attended in the past few days. The first happened in front of Western Foods. (to the same lady involved in the crash into a house last month - talk about bad luck). The second involved a 7 year old girl who was struck be a car when she ran across the road to say good bye to her mother after she let her off at the school bus stop. Fortunately, injuries were not serious in both circumstances. A three vehicle crash on Sooke Road in front of Save On Gas caused quite a traffic delay. There was significant damage to one vehicle as it was hit from both ends. Again it appears injuries were minor.

Tough Night to be on the Road

Last night certainly proved to be busy as several peopel decided it was a good night to customize their vehicles by hitting assorted objects. The first was just before the end of the work day when a passerby stopped at the station to tell us of a crash that had just occurred at Otter Point and Helgeson. On arrival, a mini van with most of its front end missing was sitting on Otter Point Rd. It had collided with a one ton truck, hitting it right where the deck connects to the cab. According to the driver of the truck, the van went right through the intersection without stopping. Luckily no injuries occured. Due to the damage on both vehicles a lot of fluids had spread across the roadway, so foam was used to clean up the mess. On return to the station and within just a couple of minutes, a call came in for a chimney fire. Quite a spectacular fire works show was coming out the chimney on arrival. Ladder 1 was used to access the chimney and extinguish the fire. The little boy that lived in the house told us "he knew just what to do because he had learned fire safety in Metchosin" (he attended the Fire Expo) So its nice to know that public education works.

Later that night a 2 car crash occured outside the 17 Mile House. Minor injuries again as one car rear ended the other. Lots of glass to clean up on the road. This was followed by a single vehicle roll over crash at about 1:00 am near Sooke and Goodridge. A late model pick up truck left the roadway, went airborne, hit a tree and a large rock, spun around and then over. The vehicle was completely demolished. The driver who was not wearing his seatbelt then ran away and went home. There is some speculation he may have been ejected. RCMP tracked him to a home a short distance away. He was quite easy to locate as he was wearing only one shoe and the police had the other that he lost at the scene. Again a very lucky man as he suffered no apparent injuries and refused EHS transport. Charges against the driver are being considered. Crews were called back later in the night when the tow truck driver flipped the vehicle over to transport and the battery began sparking and fuel leaking. Lets hope tonight is a little more peaceful.

Congratulations are in order

I have been told I am falling behind in blogging. Funny, 10 years ago nobody would have know what that meant. I did put a new post up last night, but it seems to have disappeared so here goes again.

First off, congratulations to Garry Hof and his promotion to Captain of the newly formed C Platoon. It is our hope that with three platoons at Station 1, training and maintanance issues will be easier and more streamlined. We will give a try anyway. Thanks to all those that attended last nights meeting. A lot of information was covered about what we can see or expect over the next year. I think 2010 is going to be an exciting time for the DOS and therefore the fire department as well.

Well today has been a busy day. Thanks to Chris McCrea and Bob Hudson oh and Garry too, a huge chunk of the Ozone display was completed today. We are just a handful of the volunteers involved in this project. The community support has been amazing and last I heard, we have already received over $27,000.00 in sponsorship from local companies to put this show on. Wow. Anyway, come by sometime and see what is going on. I am sure you will be impressed by how this is all coming together. (PS - don't walk on the pool liner or you will face the wrath of Chris - the water will be going in on Monday)

Happy New Year

Well here we are in 2010. Hard to believe that we are already into a new decade. The last one certainly proved exciting, so I am sure there are many new things to come. We reached another milestone in 2009 by attending the most calls ever in the history of the department. A total of 851 responses were handled this past year. This is a 13% increase over 2008 which had us attending 752 incidents. At this rate, it won't be long before we hit 1000 calls a year. Don't forget the big meeting tomorrow as CAO Evan Parliament will be on hand to discuss the District of Sookes plans for the future. This will be followed with a similar presentation on what you can expect from the fire department. Please take the time to attend and participate in the conversation. It is your department too, so your input is valuable.

I received an email from Chris Meikle. He told me that he is doing well and expects to be back in Sooke at the beginning of February. I am sure he will be happy to return.

In case you were not aware, our head building inspector / emergency coordinator will be retiring soon. As such, the fire department will be taking over running, operating, recruiting and training members for positions within this very important area. Stay tuned for more updates on this.

Attendance review letters have been placed in everyones mailboxes. Please have a look at your letters and the comments enclosed in each. While we strive for accuracy, mistakes can be made. If you disagree or would like to comment on your individual situation, please make arrangements to see me to discuss any issues you may have. At the request of many members of the department, we will be following the policies of the department in regards to attendance. If you cannot fullfill these requirements, perhaps it is time to review your committment to the department. This is not to say we don't appreciate what you have done, but as you know this is a demanding job, even for volunteers. Minimum standards of training and attendance are required to keep skill levels up to an acceptable level. With the anticipated growth in the community, it is likely that expectations may even increase over time. As we have moved into the technological age, we are also looking at new ways of offering training. Several of you already participated in the on line training program that we received a grant for in 2009. We are looking at more ideas like this, but they all come at a cost. With a limited training budget, only so much can be done in a year, however, this is one way that members on shift patterns or working out of town may be able to keep their skills honed while meeting the requirements of attendance. If you have other ideas, don't be afraid to share them.

Work on the Ozone display for the Olympics is progressing nicely. I know it is a bit of a pain having it set up in the fire hall, but is for a very good cause. It is expected that as many as 400,000 people may go through this booth in Richmond. We only have just over a month to get it all done. There are many volunteers and staff working on this project and I believe we may have one of the best displays there. There is still an opportunity for you to volunteer to staff the booth. Your expenses will be covered while you are there so let me know if you are interested and what dates you would be available. This is a once in a life time opportunity.