The Cortes Island Fire Department is preparing for what could be the driest summer on record. They have purchased more equipment, a new pumper truck, and are about to start recruiting for a much larger wildfire brigade. After a year and a half as the interim Fire Chief, Eli McKenty may be staying on. This was not the story Cortes Currents expected to cover. An open fire prohibition came into effect at noon on Friday, May 17.
They were flushing water through one of the trucks in the front yard, when I arrived. Chief McKenty took me up to the office where it was quieter. There are two other desks there. BC Emergency Health Services Unit Chief Kim Robertson was away, but Office Manager Tammy Allwork was working on her computer. Their work spaces were meticulously laid out, with everything in its place. A few books and papers were sprawled across McKenty’s desk.
He began by describing the new regulation.
McKenty: “The fire ban that came on an hour and a half ago is the Provincial Category 2 and Category 3 ban. At this point in the Coastal Fire Centre, which is the area that we’re in, you are still allowed campfires subject to the provisions for having a safe campfire. They basically need to be a half meter, by a half meter, by a half meter as far as size, and you need to have an area around it of about 10 feet that’s free of fuel or flammable materials. You need to have water and a hand tool like a shovel, or whatever, in order to be able to put it out.”
“You can still have a campfire until they ban category one or campfires, but as of today, you can no longer have a burn pile, or a burn barrel, or a big bonfire, or slash burning. That is now prohibited until October or further notice.”
Cortes Currents: Where are we at right now in terms of vulnerability to fires?
McKenty: “I think we are drier than average for this time of year, but we’re still in reasonable shape. We had a little bit of rain yesterday and I think the coastal fire center by and large had reasonably good winter rain and snowfall levels compared to the interior of the province which is in fairly deep drought conditions. They’re having a very bad start to the fire season in the interior and so far things are looking good on the coast but it’s way too early to tell what the summer season is going to be like. It depends how much rain we get through June and beyond.”
Cortes Currents: The snowpacks were unusually low in the surrounding mountains like Mount Washington.
McKenty: “That’s a major concern in the areas where snowpack is a big determinant of summer water supply and less of an issue on Cortes because we don’t really have any snowpack. Still, as far as I understand, it was a fairly dry winter for us as well.”
“Looking at Jack’s Pond and places like that, it was quite late that they recharged and they’re already mostly dry. Unless things change, we can expect a fairly dry summer and potentially higher fire risk than average for Cortes.”
Cortes Currents: Have there already been fires this year?
McKenty: “Not on Cortes. We’ve been called for some burn piles and things like that. People had wondered if they were out of control. Some were unattended, but there have not been wildfires of note. Early in the season, we had a small brush fire from a downed power line, but it wasn’t spreading.”
Cortes Currents: There hasn’t been a major fire on Cortes since at least 1950, and the ones I can see in written records are in the 30s. Is there a danger?
McKenty: “I certainly think there is. We have a huge amount of fuel in the forest on the island right now. Forest practices over the last hundred years have resulted in a huge buildup of fuel in the forest and forest stands which are more subject to more intense fire behaviour than first growth, untouched forest. A lot of that is hard to get data on for Cortes Island because our wildfire plan only includes data from Crown land, community forests and the parks, but it doesn’t include private land. I think the private timber management land on the island is, in many cases, a much higher risk than the areas that are included in the planning. I think that our fire risk is higher than what’s identified in our community wildfire plan.”
“The small fire that we had last year was very intense fire behaviour, but we’re super fortunate in where the ignition occurred and the terrain and the way the wind was blowing ended up holding it for long enough for us to get it. Had it started in a different area, even a hundred yards in either direction, it could have been quite a different story and we could have been looking at a major incident.”
Cortes Currents: Would you say that people need to be worried or just be careful?
McKenty: “That’s a hard question, especially from an emergency management perspective. Definitely be careful. I think that it’s very much worth preparing for a worst case scenario as far as doing fire smart preparation and doing your best to protect your homes.”
“We have a great department for a small rural department, but in a major wildfire, we would be spread super thin. That’s where the preparation that people can do in their own homes is super critical. In many cases, it has actually been proven that houses can survive on their own through a wildfire with proper fire smarting and some sprinklering. It also means that if we are protecting an area, it’s much easier for us to deal with.”
“When BC Wildfire arrives, they will do what’s called a triage of the neighbourhoods that are affected. They’ll identify the homes that are defensible and the ones that are indefensible. If you’re buried in cedar trees and you’ve got brush against your house and your firewood is stacked against your house, there’s very little they can do to save your home in a major incident where they’re trying to get the best bang for their buck and save as many properties as possible.”
“If homeowners are able to do the basic preparations and make sure they have their home ignition zone clear, so they don’t have debris right up against the house, overhanging trees and all that kind of stuff, their firewood and outbuildings are spaced out and their driveway is clear enough to provide safe access, then there’s much more that BC Wildfire and the fire department can do to protect people’s homes.”
“I’d just like to encourage people to be careful with cigarettes and any open flame and so on. Also, we’re going to be making a real push this year to try and encourage people to do the FireSmart home preparation on the island, because that’s the biggest thing that people can do to help protect themselves and their neighbourhoods. There’s lots of available information on that online, including on our website the cortesfire.org website. We also have Bonnie Logan who is the Regional District FireSmart coordinator and she comes over and will do free home assessments and give recommendations.”
Cortes Currents: What’s going on right now in the firehall’s front yard?
McKenty: “This is our annual pump test for the trucks, so we do a couple of different rounds of inspection on our equipment every year. The trucks all get a commercial vehicle inspection, which is like a standard commercial safety inspection once a year. Then the pumper trucks get a second inspection by an Emergency Vehicle Technician (EVT), who tests the pumps and the rest of the emergency systems on the vehicles, so that’s happening today.”
Cortes Currents: Tell me about some of the new equipment you’ve got.
McKenty: “We’ve got quite a bit of new equipment coming this year.”
“We purchased about $50,000 worth of grant funded wildfire equipment, so sprinkler protection and pumps and hoses and all that kind of stuff. We are also in the process of getting a new pumper truck for Hall 1. We’re replacing 101, which is way out of date, with a second hand engine out of Kentucky that was actually picked up this morning by one of our department members.”
“We also recently acquired 360,000 litres worth of additional water storage for the island, which was largely funded with a combination of donations and grant money. So a huge increase in our water storage capacity and that will help us reach the superior tanker shuttle accreditation that we’re aiming for. That hopefully will give everyone a nice break on their fire insurance.”
Cortes Currents: What do you mean by water storage?
McKenty: “So we have giant steel tanks at the two fire halls, plus a couple more on the south end of the island as reserve water for firefighting. We keep water in the trucks, of course, and if we arrive at an incident where we need more than what we are carrying, which would be any structure fire or major wildland fire, then since we don’t have municipal style fire hydrants, we have to haul water in our tanker trucks.”
“Our first source of that will be the new tanks. And beyond that, if we run out, then we haul from the lake, largely. We have a pump station at Kw’as Bay and another one on Gunflint.”
“We are bringing on additional members for our wildfire brigade at the beginning of June. If anyone would like to get in touch and feels interested in joining, the application is open. People can sign up through our website for anyone who would like to be part of the Wildfire Brigade, which is basically our wildland firefighting reserve force for the island.”
Cortes Currents: How many people have you got, and how many people do you want to have?
McKenty: “Last year in August when we launched the brigade we had 13 people and 4 of those have now joined on as regular department members. So currently we have nine members on the wildfire brigade and we’re hoping to increase that to about 20 this year and to about 30 in the long term.”
The associated press release, posted on Tideline by Tammy Allwork, states:
“Cortes residents, including summer residents, who are able to attend training sessions and meet minimum medical and fitness requirements are eligible to apply. If you run, play soccer, exercise, or do physical work you should have no trouble with the fitness test.”
“Wildfire Brigade members will undergo the provincially mandated basic training consisting of the S100 and S185, plus department safety and communications training. Online ICS100 training is also required. Basic training for this year will be held at Hall 1 on Beasley Rd. Saturday and Sunday, June 8-9 from 8:30 till 4:30. ICS100 normally takes 3-5 hours to complete, and is a self paced online course.”
“The annual training schedule will include basic training (or refresher as applicable) once per year, plus 2 to 4 practice nights.”
Cortes Currents: How many regular firefighters have you got?
Eli McKenty: “Right now we have about, let’s see, 36 regular firefighters.”
Cortes Currents: And how many support staff?
Eli McKenty: “We have Tammy, who’s our office manager, and we have Kirsten, who does the cleaning at the fire halls. We also have our volunteer board that oversees the governance and overall management of the department, and myself as Chief, which is largely an administrative position.”
Cortes Currents: Are you still hoping the fire department finds another Chief?
Eli McKenty: “I’m not in a big rush. I am still technically the Interim Chief. I have been speaking to the board about signing on in a longer term capacity. So I’m here for now and as long as needed, at least.”
Cortes Currents: When you say you’re speaking to the board in terms of a long term capacity, does that mean you’re bringing it up or they’re bringing it up?
Eli McKenty: “Largely, I would say they’re bringing it up (laugher) but I would say that the job is a lot more interesting and less stressful than when I took it on a year and a half ago. It’s rewarding to be part of so much growth in the department, and we’ve really expanded our team. We’re doing well financially with donations and grant money, and really building our capacity right now. It is exciting to be a part of this.”
Links of Interest
- Cortes Island Fire Department website
- Cortes Island Community Wildfire Protection Plan 2020 Update – SRD
- Wildfire Preparedness Guide – BC Government
- Articles about the Cortes Island Fire Department on Cortes Currents
Top image: Fire Chief Eli McKenty checking something on Tammy Allwork’s computer only hours before a press release was sent out. All undesignated photos by Roy L Hales.
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