By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Beside the Dunster General Store stands a humble shed, painted in iconic fire-engine red. Its contents – shovels, hardhats, some spare flame-resistant jackets – had been gathering dust for years, until some locals took stock of the supplies during a recent fire suppression workshop.
That shed was once Dunster Fire Station #1, and the equipment inside was the community’s first line of defence against fires.
Claude Hill, the previous owner of the Dunster General Store, built the shed and stocked it with supplies after his time fighting fires for the BC Forest Service.
“When you’re outside of the town of either (McBride or Valemount), there’s no fire protection, period,” Hill told The Goat. “So I thought, ‘Okay, we’ll get our own firefighting equipment.’ I started scrounging and buying and putting it all together.”
Among the supplies Hill purchased were a three-horsepower water pump and a trailer with a 250-gallon (about 946-litre) tank, which he used to keep parked beside the station. When a fire started, his wife Lilly would start a phone tree, working her way through a list of local phone numbers with a brusque message: “fire at so-and-so’s house.”
Meanwhile, Hill and other residents would grab their equipment and hurry to the scene, trailer in tow.
The trailer has been gone for about 10 years now, and Hill hasn’t kept tabs on the station since his retirement in 2002. While he isn’t sure of exactly when the station lapsed into obscurity, he’s certain of one thing: Dunster hasn’t had a community fire response team in years.
“We were all volunteers, we just went and did it,” Hill said. “Whether that volunteer spirit is still in the community or not, I couldn’t tell you. It’s a different generation.”
As it turns out, the new generation shares Hill’s concerns. After a fire suppression course held at the Dunster Schoolhouse in May, the Dunster Community Forest Society (DCFS) decided to spearhead the creation of a Dunster Community Fire Brigade.
Marie Hyde, Business and Marketing Administrator of the DCFS who attended the fire suppression training, said the instructor told attendees about the Chinook Emergency Response Society, a Grassy Plans-based team of volunteer emergency responders.
“We thought, ‘Wow, that’s amazing. We don’t want to be stuck with our pants down – we should have some kind of a first response,’” Hyde recounted.
Currently, if a fire starts in the community, residents simply wait for the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) to arrive. According to a statement from Prince George Fire Centre Information Officer, the typical response time to a fire in Dunster would be one hour by road, or within half an hour by aircraft. Hyde hopes that with a community fire brigade, Dunster residents will be able to stave off the fire from reaching homes and other infrastructure before the arrival of BCWS.
“Local loggers have the skills and equipment to help with local fires,” Hyde said. “So we’re hoping we can have a quicker response if (BCWS) is busy with other fires.”
At the time of the interview, the community was too overwhelmed with still-raging wildfires to get all the details of the brigade – such as its size and how it will receive reports of fires – ironed out just yet, according to Hyde. She expects further details to come in the fall, once everyone has a chance to meet and plan for next summer’s fire response.
Still, the project is getting off the ground, starting with the circulation of resident information forms. The forms collect information including a resident’s address, the number of occupants in their household, and the resources they could share during a disaster – things that are helpful to have on hand for both community-led emergency response and for BCWS responders, according to Hyde.
With her experience working on geographic information systems, Hyde also plans on making a map of Dunster’s water sources, critical infrastructure, and areas of egress for local properties.
The brigade will certainly meet a few times a year before fire season starts to practice using the equipment and do any necessary maintenance work, Hyde added.
In the meantime, the DCFS is working on getting funds to restock Dunster Fire Station #1 with new hoses, trailers and water tanks. According to Hyde, the organization is hoping to get a grant approved from the Regional District, and she’s looking into other potential funding streams.
Hyde says residents interested in volunteering can contact her at [email protected], or by phone at (778) 763-4990.
Robson Valley communities take fire preparedness seriously, according to Hyde – many of her neighbours have installed sprinklers, and gotten a FireSmart assessment for their homes. It’s a good start, she says, and she hopes to have community support for coordinated emergency response.
“The community can come together with our own equipment to at least work on our homes or areas close to the highway… until BCWS shows up to do the real work in the bush.”
