A crew from Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Services is home after 5 weeks of deployment in BC, as the province is faced with the worst wildfire season on record.

July 17th the Alberta Office of the Fire Commissioner called upon the west central department who responded with a 4 man crew and their structure protection trailer.

Regional Fire Chief Steve Debienne says it was a matter of minutes before they were called into action.

“Right from the word go, our crews literally sat in the staging area for less than 15 minutes before they received their first deployment missions which were in the Williams Lake, Soda Creek area to set up structure protection for of course the advancing wildfire which did come through that area.  That was right within 15 minutes of them getting into the Williams Lake area, so that was abnormal, because normally they like to hold you in staging for a little longer to get you to that point”.

In terms or what crews were tasked with, Debienne explains.

“Installing structure protection, maintaining the pumps that were running, maintaining sprinkler systems because they are a bit finicky, you have to play with them and keep them going.  So that was 7am to 7pm, 12 hour operational period, which they were working 7 days a week while they were out there.  We were trying to do crew swaps on every 7th day with a new fresh crew just because of the hours worked”.

He's proud to say crews did an outstanding job.

“We were well over 500 structures in which we were protecting.  Amazing success, it’s shocking the amount of success that these structure protection programs play in protecting properties in the advancing wildfire.  We had at least two big days here at the tail end of it that the fire was moving at a rank 5-6 magnitude which is the most severe wildfire rankings that you can get and they were running right at our structures and from what I can tell you for the most part they all held”.

It was physically demanding and the Regional Fire Chief recounts doing all that they could to protect homes.

“A lot of miles, a lot of area, up and down ladders, pulling hoses, carrying pumps.  The big thing is, I know our crews talked about it, at first we thought it was a rarity, but as we continued to grow with it, it was not uncommon to carry two jerry cans, 5 gallon jerry cans, 3-4 kilometers into a cabin because the road was inaccessible because it was burned out or bridges were burned off, so you’re carrying these jerry cans in by hand to get the pumps going”.

While setting up sprinkler systems crews had opportunities to connect with residents, Debienne says they even ran into home owners originally from Rocky Mountain House.

The gratitude their crews experienced during their time in BC is something they'll never forget.

“One business in Williams Lake asked for one of our t-shirts, they’re doing a shadow box and they’re hanging it up in a restaurant, another restaurant in Clinton made a big memorial wall with all of the staff’s names that were there and all about the wildfire so they made that memorial wall, we were going out to do our pump checks and we were finding 15 packs of beer sitting on the pump kits, which I mean we don’t take, but it was the gestures of people saying thank-you”.

Clearwater Regional is prone to wildfires, especially the Nordegg area where they have battled many forest fires, Debienne notes the most recent one in 2013 where the community was evacuated and many organizations and municipalities stepped up to help, so for some of their members the deployment to BC was a pay it forward moment.

Debienne is also sending a heartfelt thank-you to their members who stayed back and ensured Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Services ran seamlessly with fewer members, and for all the local employers who allowed their members to leave work at the drop of a hat to help out in BC.

The Regional Fire Chief calls it a once in a lifetime experience, serving alongside members from Australia, Mexico, the US and resources from all of the provinces.

All of their members returned home this week, alongside two members from the Sylvan Lake Fire Department who joined their crew during week 5, they are now in maintenance mode, preparing for the possibility of another deployment.