BARRHEAD — Three Barrhead firefighters and one of the Barrhead Regional Fire Services’ (BRFS) engines have been sent up north to aid the firefighting efforts in the Northwest Territories.
Last week, all 20,000 residents of Yellowknife were forced to evacuate due to the close proximity of a massive wildfire more than 167,000 hectares in size.
However, there are many other wildfires burning throughout the region and threatening other communities like Fort Smith, Hay River and Kakisa, which have also been evacuated.
In an e-mail, regional fire chief Gary Hove said the Provincial Operations Centre contacted him on the evening of Aug. 18 to request the use of Barrhead’s Type 3 engine to assist with the firefighting efforts near Yellowknife.
He said a request was then put out to local firefighters to see who could go up north for a 10 to 14-day deployment, and three members — Ted Amos, Craig Plitt and Jesse Whitney — all stepped forward.
On Aug. 20, the province sent a truck and trailer to haul the engine to Yellowknife, and it was on its way by about 8:30 p.m., said Hove.
The crew then left the following morning, Aug. 21, to join up with firefighters from Edmonton and Calgary, who would all catch a plane that would take them to the NWT — Hove said they arrived safely the same day.
“Deployments for volunteer firefighters can be a big ask. They usually have to ask for time away from work and dedicate any vacation time they have remaining to go help,” said Hove.
“Not all employers can spare their employees being away for two weeks, so it is hard to get people who can help out others in need. The want is there from the members to go help, but work, family activities or just the lack of spare days to take off from their jobs hinders their involvement.”
Hove said they have not received any deployment requests to assist with the fires in B.C., but the Barrhead fire department did dedicate eight weeks of deployments within Alberta this spring at Drayton Valley, Rainbow Lake, the Peavine Settlement, Garden River and Peace River.
Hove added he was very proud of the department and community for going out and helping others with this year’s wildfires, as well as all the support that was shown to the evacuees from Swan Hills back in May.
