The month of July has been extremely busy for the Duncan Fire Department.
The fire department has had 78 calls for service from July 1 to July 25, and 36 of those calls in the week prior to July 25 which is three timesthe normal amount of calls for service.
The calls include 22 brush fires, six structure fires, 10 high-acuity medical calls involving cardiac arrests, and three rescues.
Fire Chief Landis Carmichael said the most significant event of the month so far was the high-risk brush fire on Brae Road, which was surrounded by vehicles and high-density residential neighbourhoods, that spread to a nearby garage.
The brush fire, which occurred in the 300 block of Brae Road on July 20, spread to fully engulf the nearby detached garage on Ypres Street before firefighters got it under control and successfully put it out before the situation got any worse.
A 39-year-old man has been arrested for arson in the case, which began in a vacant lot, and the incident is still under investigation.
Carmichael said the fire department’s resources were stretched thin to handle the emergency.
“For this, we deployed multiple units of mutual aid from the North Cowichan Fire Department and Cowichan Bay Fire Rescue,” he said.
“The RCMP, BC Ambulance Service and BC Hydro also assisted. Excellent work was done by our local firefighters and fire departments to work together and mitigate these challenging emergencies. There were no injuries to either staff or the public. Thank you to all of our on-call firefighters for continuing to show up and protect their community, which has been up to seven times a day as of late.”
Carmichael said that with the many wildfires currently unfolding in the province, and closer to home with the Old Man Lake wildfire near Sooke, which covered 169 hectares as of July 26, he asks the public to be more vigilant and prevent any human-caused fires.
“People should ensure they are fully extinguishing discarded smoking materials and campfires, when they are not banned, and be careful when using hot-power equipment, doing outdoor cooking, and taking vehicles off-road as all of these are common starters of wildfires and are easily avoided,” he said.
“A reminder to the public that when the entire community is smoky from wildfires in other regions, 9-1-1 calls to report similar events should be made when specific columns of smoke or visible flames have been located.”
The Duncan Fire Department currently has 22 firefighters, and Carmichael said the department is always looking to reinforce its roster.
“Want a fun and rewarding second career?” he asked.
“Join the Duncan Fire Department and participate in protecting our community as a paid-on-call firefighter; please apply on the City of Duncan website. The next recruit intake will be early this fall.”
