JASPER - The arrival of Westlock County's equipment and rural firefighting skills in Jasper proved beneficial to help battle the wildfire that destroyed a large part of the town.
Westlock County District Fire Chief Jared Stitsen praised the county’s decision to send a specialized unit from Busby, saying it was invaluable.
“John Biro made the choice to send an engine from Busby, which was a very, very useful piece of equipment and that was awesome. That was a big thing getting the right equipment rolling.”
Busby’s Engine 6 is versatile and has a 1,000-gallon water capacity.
“It’s great for pump and roll,” said Stitsen. “You can pump and discharge while driving. It’s a very diverse truck. We use it for rescue as well.”
Town and city firetrucks must hook up to hydrants, whereas the county trucks don’t.
“Rural firefighters are used to dealing with no water and hydrants that don’t work,” said Stitsen. “Your rural firefighting tactics come in handy. Rural equipment that we sent was crucial to what we could do because a lot of trucks don’t have enough water to fight these types of fires.”
Biro, who is Westlock County’s protective services manager, agreed.
“Our hydrants are on wheels. We are very equipped and knowledgeable at conserving water because we don’t have hydrants around the next corner where we can hook up and give us water 24-7.
“Our trucks are larger capacity than your typical city or town fire engine,” said Biro, adding that town and city trucks have 300 to 500-gallon capacity whereas county trucks have 1,200 to 2,000 gallons of water on board.
“Our trucks are like a pump and roll. If necessary, we are able to chase the fire and fight the fire whereas town trucks or city trucks, once they position the truck and pull the hose out, that’s their position, they have to stay in place otherwise they have to shut the pumps down and disconnect the hoses. Whereas we have the capability of driving down the road, highway, or street, or into a field, and chase the fire if needed.”
In addition, the county’s trucks are built to traverse rugged terrain.
“We deal with grass and forest lands,” said Biro. “Some of our structure fires we see spread to forests or to buildings, or across fields. We have fence lines, water lines, holes, sandy areas, and peat moss so our trucks have to be capable of doing a bit of off-road when necessary.”
Struck by devastation
Rolling into Jasper, Stitsen said he was struck by the devastation.
“Jasper is a special place for everyone. Anyone you talk to has been to Jasper. It’s an iconic place in our province, a beautiful place. You see the beauty of it then when you see the destruction it’s a whole new look on things and you remember the streets or places you have been, and the beauty and you know it’s going to take a while to get it back to where it was.”
Sorrow at loss of fellow firefighter
A Calgary firefighter who lost his life when a tree fell on him in Jasper had a profound impact on Westlock County firefighters. They were already back in Westlock County when the incident occurred.
“Some of our tasks was looking for these trees,” said Stitsen. “Part of your training is you look for these trees that could be an issue. There are different ones we cut down that looked sketchy and then you hear this happen and it’s pretty sad.”
Organized chaos
Stitsen said when Westlock County firefighters arrived in Jasper it was “organized chaos” and it took at least an hour before they could help battle the wildfire in town.
“It was raining when we got there. There was a lot going on and a lack of resources at the time. That was the big thing. It was organized chaos. There were lots of buildings burning and not enough people to take care of it initially.”
Stitsen, who also helped fight the massive Fort McMurray wildfire, as well as the Slave Lake and Edson fires, said he reached out to the local MLA to discuss efficiencies and how the province can do a better job than municipalities.
Mutual Aid
Westlock County has mutual aid agreements with surrounding municipalities and is part of the provincial Borderlands agreement, according to Westlock County Protective Services Coordinator Faye Doblanko.
Firefighters from Westlock County Protective Services Station 5-Pickardville and Station 6-Busby that went to Jasper in July included: Jared Stitsen (District Fire Chief), Dean Dumbeck (Deputy Fire Chief), Raegan Moon (Captain), Livia Stutheit (firefighter), and Jenna Doblanko (firefighter).
Biro said the county helps whenever they can.
“If we can spare a few trucks that may save one or two or maybe more homes I think it’s a great neighbourly thing to do and basically what goes around comes around. We may need the assistance one day.”
