qRD Electoral Area D firefighters need specialized vehicle

Although the qathet region is surrounded by forest, so far, the wildfire season has been fairly quite. However, across the water from the mainland lies the 300-square-kilometre Gulf Island of Texada, with a majority of its landbase covered in trees, making the two small communities of Gillies Bay and Van Anda, vulnerable if a wildfire started and spread.

The Peak reported that on July 1 of last year, a five-alarm fire started in Gillies Bay and had the potential to take out Shelter Point Regional Park and surrounding areas. Luckily, both the Gillies Bay and Van Anda fire departments acted fast and contained the blaze fairly quickly.

Much of the terrain on the island, which is qathet Regional District's (qRD) Electoral Area D, is forestry logging roads and hard to access areas by regular and emergency vehicles, such as a fire truck.

That's why the Texada Island Firefighters Association, which includes Van Anda and Gillies Bay fire departments, has started a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money in order to purchase a wildfire initial attack vehicle.

"Our two volunteer fire departments have had intensive training in wildfire fighting and structural protection but lack the means to access key areas of the island as our fire trucks were not built for these roads," said Gillies Bay assistant fire chief Ben Reimen. "So far, we have raised over $25,000 towards the purchase of a utility terrain vehicle [UTV] and a firefighting skid unit with a water tank, pump, hose line and space for a stretcher in case we need to conduct a patient extrication."

So far, Reiman said Texada has had two fires this year, one in the early spring at Crescent Bay, which was most likely human caused, and another around the bend from Gillies Bay.

"The one on the coast near Gillies looked like someone might have had a bonfire and it actually continued to burn through three days of pouring rain," said Reiman. "That was pretty scary, but otherwise it's [fire season] been good."

Reiman said that although Texada is a coastal community and there has been some rain, which helps somewhat in the dry season, lightning strikes are a threat that can cause wildfires.

"Every year we're just preparing for the big one," said Reiman. "We are a [temperate] rainforest here, but the island is almost entirely forest, and that's scary for us, a couple coastal villages, so it's not going to take much for a big burn to quickly take over the two communities."

Reiman said Texada has a good chunk of land that is owned privately, and that the owners have been planning collaboratively, with those managing public lands, to build natural forest breaks around their cut blocks, for example.

The Go Fund Me campaign is only one part of the fundraising strategy to obtain a wildfire initial attack vehicle. On September 2, Texada firefighters will host their third annual community barbecue at Shelter Point, with proceeds going to the Texada Island Firefighters Association.

"A former chef at the [fire] department is coordinating all the food; we've got the Ryder Bachman Band coming in, he's Randy Bachman's grandson," said Reiman. "This year, because we knew we wanted to get this vehicle, we thought we'd step it up a bit and we went out seeking sponsors, and now we've got a whole kind of VIP section."

The goal is to raise $75,000, said Reiman, and so far they have had some generous donations from Texada Island community members and businesses.

To donate, look up the Go Fund Me titled: Help Texada Island Get A Wildfire Initial Attack Vehicle or email [email protected].

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