BC Wildfire Service explains details of Chetwynd Northern Initial Fire Attack Crew base changes

CHETWYND, B.C. — Sharon Nickel with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) says the live-on portion of the Chetwynd Northern Initial Fire Attack Crew base isn’t in a livable state anymore and needs to close.

Energeticcity spoke with Nickel, an Information Officer with the Prince George Fire Centre, to clarify information regarding the changes to the base proposed last winter.

“That base, if folks are familiar, it is trailers and portables, circa the 1970s, and those facilities are not adequate for crews to be living in anymore,” Nickel said.

“Our couple of office personnel, that are regular full-time, year-round staff, they were still working out of there over the winter, and what we’re seeing now, based on our preparedness levels and the current activity and fire hazard in the area, we are stationing personnel there.”

Nickel says those crews simply aren’t living on the base, instead treating it as a kind of “forward-attack facility,” in her words.

“Basically, what it means is that, instead of having your crews living directly on the base where the vehicles are, the crews, when they’re on standby, go to another place to sleep,” Nickel explains.

The change from a live-on base to a forward attack facility has drawn ire from figures like Chetwynd’s mayor and other nearby communities like Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge.

One of the most common concerns is that not having a crew living at the facility full-time will increase response times, but Nickel says that isn’t the case.

“Times are really going to vary, regardless of what zone or centre someone’s located in, and that can start as early as if the caller that’s reporting a fire is in cell or wifi service,” she explained.

“Just because a fire was discovered at, say, 1:00 p.m., if that report doesn’t get pushed through to the provincial wildfire reporting station until 1:30 because of service disruptions, that 1:30 time is when the province will send it to local fire centres.”

She says factors like that have a much greater impact on response times when personnel are stationed at the facility.

Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston made a similar argument in a letter to Chetwynd council in March, adding that, when crews aren’t stationed at the forward attack base, they’d be able to reach it via helicopter from Dawson Creek within a half hour or less.

Nickel also says work is already underway to have the exiting live-on portion of the base removed and replaced within the next few months, although she doesn’t know if it will reopen in the future.