Ever wanted to win a Goat?

Yes, you heard me right......WIN A GOAT. Thanks to the brainchild of a certain Chaplain in the department (no names mentioned) Sooke Fire Rescue is raffling off a goat. Yes, a real live goat. Tickets are only 25 cents. There is a catch of course. You don't have to put your own name on the ticket. You can put anyone you wish on the ticket. Buy one, buy many, after all they are only $0.25 each. Now, in case you are wondering what would you do with a goat in case you won, we have a special deal for you. You can buy GOAT INSURANCE. For only $10.00 you can get an insurance policy that allows you not to take the goat if you win. Each insurance policy is good for 5 draws from the barrel. We will keep drawing until a winner is declared. If your name is drawn a number of times, the sixth time the goat will be yours ............or you could buy more insurance. Each policy is good for a maximum of 5 draws. So, you have to say to yourself - self: how many people will buy a ticket and put my name on it? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh yeah, you can only get the insurance from the Chaplain (at least for now) and insurance sales will stop one week before the draw date of April 1st. (get the irony of that one) So, happy goating to all of you. If you have time, perhaps you could help sell some tickets. Set up anywhere in Sooke, talk to your friends, relatives or buy some tickets. All the proceeds will go to Haiti Relief Fund.

Probie for Life

Seems like congratulations are in order for several members of the department. First off, Chris McCrea was selected by the hiring committee as Sooke's newest career firefighter. He will begin working on March 1st. The second candidate selected was Cam Norris Jones. If all goes according to plans, he will begin his full time position on May 1st. Well done to both of you. I am also pleased to announce the Assistant Chief McLeod successfully completed his 6 month probationary period. He has now been appointed as the full-time Deputy Fire Chief for the department. Unfortunately for Rick, this means 6 more months of probation. Luckily I got a bigger probie stick to ensure all these new firefighters stay in line. On June 1st, we will switch to a new shift pattern with 2 firefighters working 10 hour days on a 4 day on, 4 day off rotation. This will provide 2 firefighters in the station 7 days a week during daytime hours. This will also allow scheduled training events on the weekend. These should all prove to be great changes for the department

January Stats

It's already the end of the first month of 2010. Where does the time go? I thought I would share the month end stats with you just in case someone cares. We had a total of 70 responses in January this year, down 15 from 2009, although if you remember 2009 at all you will recall that a great number of those incidents involved sand bagging and flooding. The majority of the incidents were burning complaints (33 to be exact) as many people still don't seem to get, or want to understand the burning bylaw even though it has been in place for over two years now. A total of 13 Motor Vehicle Incidents were attended to. This is a lot of serious crashes in a one month period. Two Haz Mat calls went out for reponse of the CRD Haz Mat team. As we have four members on the team, they were notified but in the end not required for the call. Soon all of the haz mat team members will be placed into a 4-platoon system. Only the on duty haz mat platoon will be called unless additional help is needed. We also attended 18 first responder calls and fortunately for the duty crews, only one occured late at night. Only one fire occured and this was a chimney fire. While quite spectacular looking, there was no damage to the home. February has started off on a slow note so will just have to see how it pans out.

Speaking of stats, the poll for when to have meeting nights has closed. A total of 20 votes were received with 14 voting in favour of every second month for Association Meetings and 6 wanting to keep them monthly. Check out the new poll on minimum attendance requirements.

Hike in the Dark

Crews responded to an assist ambulance call on the Galloping Goose Trail this past weekend. A woman suffered a leg injury and could not walk. Entering the trail at teh Sooke River Rd parking lot, the ambulance backed in as far as the trestle (not an easy task in the dark) while firefighters hiked ahead to locate the victim. She was packaged and carried out to the waiting ambulance. (maybe the guys in turnout boots will remember their hiking boots next time)

This weekend it appears that blue sky came out which means open season on burning, (at least in a lot of peoples minds) This is not the case, so we spent most of Sunday running around telling people to put out their fires. Anyone have a bright idea on how to get the burning regulations out to people? And on that note, our Assistant Chief and Bylaw Officer are in court today over a $200.00 burning bylaw ticket. The complainent is contesting his ticket. This will be the first test of the bylaw in court so we will see what happens.

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!)