Ozone Update

While everyone was relaxing at home and work these past couple of days, a few of us were sweating despite the rain and cold in Richmond as we worked to get the Sooke display re-assmebled for the O Zone. Located just in front of Richmond City Hall, the BC Street section of the O Zone was a hub of activity as communities from across the province began putting their displays together. After a very long 14 hour day of ferry rides, unloading and reassembly we had most of the work done. Another 3 hours work on Thursday and we were ready to go home, but I must admit that the Sooke display is the best one of the show. While Columbia / Chilcotin had a spectacular carved log entrance way, once you were inside the Sooke booth was an obvious winner. It has also been reported that sometime today, CTV, A Channel and the Vancouver Sun will be on BC Streets to report on all of the displays. Watch the news tonight if you get a chance. Next Thursday, BCTV will be doing the breakfast television news show from the Sooke Booth. On Saturday Sept 21, CAO Evan Parliament has arranged a street hockey game on BC Street at which some old timer NHL Players, politicians, BC Street volunteers and even some local kids will be able to test their skills. Sounds like an awesome event. If you get a chance to get over to Vancouver to get to the Olympics, I would suggest you make the trip to Richmond to see the Ozone. It is easy to find - just follow the Westminster Hwy to #3 Road and there you are. You can also take the Canada Line as it stops right in front of the BC Street entrance. And finally, thanks so much to the firefighters and volunteers that helped build, pack, unpack and reassemble the display. Without your efforts, this first class display would not have been a reality.

Funraising Efforts Continue

It appears that Langford FD has pulled out in the lead with the Shelter Box fundraising efforts as they now have money for eleven compared to our seven. A media presentation will take place at Langford Fire Station 1 at 2:00 pm on Monday when each group will make a check presentation to Shelter Box Canada. I will be travelling into Langford with Mayor Evans and meet with Chief Beckett and some of Langfords council members. Hopefully it will receive good attention and will allow us to increase our fund raising efforts. Watch the Monday evening news to see how things go.

More money for Haiti

Thanks to a generous donation by the RCMP Consultative Society, we have added another $1000.00 to our Haiti Relief Fund. With some additional donations we have now raised just over $7200.00. Keep up the good work, although it is still a long way to go to reach 19 as Langford FD has pledged to do.

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.