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for Terrace -
firefighters

by Tod Strachan

The Provincial Emergency Pro-
gram went into action recently
when a propane explosion severely
damaged the Stewart General
Hospital. As a part of this plan, the
Terrace Fire Department was
called, and in less than an hour
two local firefighters were on their
way by helicopter to assist their
Stewart colleagues.

To many people it was a routine
news item about firefighters. Few
take time to ask: Who are these
people? What do they do? And
who pays for it all?

For the answers, we talked to
Terrace Fire Chief Bob Beckett
and the president of the Terrace
Volunteer Firefighters Association,
Shaunce Kruisselbrink.

There were a few surprises. Not

$0 much in the statistics. As the

city grows, the number of fire-
related emergencies increase. But
there are a surprising number of
rural or non-fire related activities
our local firefighters take part in.

But first the statistics. In 1990,
the Terrace Fire Department
answered 281 calls which resulted
in 1,969 man-hours of work. The

_ approximate value of property

threatened in these calls totalled
about $3.5 million, but thanks toa

a,

oments of high action,

abe

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divided by hours of training. Terrace

firefighters hone their skills when they aren't out using them, often

on volunteer time.

dedicated and well-trained depart-
ment, actual property damage has
been estimated at only $735,000.
And there wete ‘no fire-related
deaths or injuries in 1990.

In addition to the obvious —
fighting fires — our’ local fire-
fighters put in hundreds of addi-
tional hours last year attending fire
practices (1,281 man-hours in
total) and attended 19 out-of-town
emergency calls, some requiring
the use of the Jaws of Life.

Volunteer Revival — Terrace firefighters recently gave up a

Saturday to get CPR training,

part of the requirements for

having the department designated as a First Responder. Fire
chief Bob Beckett said a First Responder arrangement could
save critical minutes In the city’s ability to deal with

gency training seminars, fire hall
fours, public fire extinguisher
training sessions, lectures on fire
safety, Fire Safety House construc-
tion and demonstrations, rebuilding
the Fire Safety House tow-truck,
and in total, 339 bicycles that were
marked for the RCMP antitheft
program. oy

So what? These guys are just
working a regular job, paid for
with taxpayer’s dollars. But this is
the first surprise: in actual fact,
very little of the activity listed

ots

emergencies. While this group was taking the course, other

HING’S B

|. required for any real emergency.

Pr 12

Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 13, 1991 B7

above was paid for by anyone. The
vast majority of the work was
done by volunteer help.

The truth is, what taxpayers
actually pay for is the purchase of
new equipment, equipment main-
tenance, one on-duty firefighter
and a full-time fire chief. The on-
duty firefighter at any particular
time, is one of eight paid members
who man the fire hall 24-hours a
day. .
What you get, if there’s a fire or
rescue operation to attend, is a few
or all of the other seven full-time
firefighters who tum out as unpaid,
off-duty workers and the 21
regular firefighter volunteers who
provide the bulk of the manpower

That’s right. When you’re watch-
ing a fire or rescue operation in
progress, observing the organized
confusion that brings things quick-
ly under control, you are probably
watching firefighters who are on
their own time.

This brings us to the next ques-
tion. Who are these people? Who,
as a part of their job, who would
give up an evening of TV to fight
a fire, rescue a-trapped motorist or
get soaked at the weekly fire prac-
tice? Who would give up their day
off just to attend a training semi-
nar, teach fire safety, of show
school children how to escape
from a burning building? Who
would allow their boss to order
them out of the house or away
from their regular job in any kind
of weather, at any time of the day,
any dayof the week? To go to
work, immediately, and without

pay?

- The answer, according to
Kruisselbrink, is simple: people
who like the work; the "challenge
of the job". People who care about

the community and the lives and

eee emt ee a aed

firefighters were out on their own time trying to suppress a
stubborn fire that had broken out in the Terrace landfill. “How

many people would be willing

to give up a Saturday, without

pay, to put out a fire at the dump?" Beckett remarked.

RNING?

safety of the residents here. And
people who simply enjoy the
camaraderie of the department, like
many others enjoy belonging to a
service club or community organi-
zation. In short, ordinary people

with a special kind of caring. —

And what do these people worty
about? Not their ability to do the

job, say Kruisselbrink and Beckett.

It’s their ability to respond with

Bob Beckett: Second firefighter
an duty would make a crucial
difference.

the equipment they possess that
worries them.

This isn’t to say our local fire
department is stocked with inferior
or faulty equipment. That’s not the
case at, all. Hundreds of hours of
volunteer time make certain of
that. But as the community grows,
so do the demands on the equip-
ment and manpower we already
have. .

With this idea in mind, we asked
Beckett what kind of changes we
might expect in the coming years.
He noted the following:
eAn expanded fire hall so "all"
emergency vehicles can be kept
indoors. This will improve reliabil-
ity and reduce maintenance costs.
eA ladder truck. At the present
time, we depend on Thornhill’s
ladder truck but if it’s busy in
Thomhill, or the fire is too large,
the first major apartment or hotel
fire we have might be impossible
to deal with.
eTwo paid firefighters manning the
hall instead of one. This will make
a difference in a number of ways.
If there are two emergency calls in
quick succession, the hall will still
be manned. At the present time, it

is necessary to leave the fire hall
unattended for several minutes

until a volunteer can respond to
man the phones.

Two firefighters on duty will also
mean the first responder program
in Terrace can become a reality.
This will mean increased security
for the community. Ambulance
dispatch in Kamloops is manned
24 hours a day, but the ambulance
station in Terrace isn’t. To the
average city resident, a first
responder program will mean
quicker emergency resporse at any
hour of the day.

When will these changes take
place? No one knows for sure, but
they will come. They have to. In
the meantime, the next time you

see one of our firefighters on the -

job you may want to look at him
in a different light. You may_even

want to walk up to him and say,

"Thanks for being here.”

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