Over 300 firefighters from across the province took part in a Wildland Urban Interface Training Symposium, in Penticton, B.C. over the weekend, to better prepare for the wildfire season ahead.
The yearly program allows both structural and wildland firefighters to receive hands-on and in-class training.
The hands-on training enabled the structural and wildland firefighters to work together on a controlled burn with the goal of learning new tactics and preparing themselves in the event of a fire.
“This training is really critical in integrating the wildland knowledge with the structure protection knowledge, so it produces more efficient, effective and safer firefighters,” said Andre Chalabi, Provincial Operations of BC Wildfire Service.
“We’re going to be working together in this environment for the foreseeable future.”
The program, which began in 2018, is designed to help improve wildfire knowledge and response time and since it began, the program has been successful.
“We probably doubled in size since the last event, which is pretty cool to see. There’s a lot of planning that goes on, so having a big turnout is pretty, pretty sweet,” said Kieran Simpson of the Penticton Fire Department.
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Controlled burns were put in place on Penticton’s Campbell Mountain on Sunday. The exercise involved supervised burning, deployment of fire service personnel, fire apparatus and aircraft.
The symposium included scheduled training exercises involving supervised burning and the active and visible deployment of fire service personnel, fire apparatus and aircraft.
This is the last year Penticton is expected to host the training event. Each year moving forward, firefighters will travel to different parts of the province to better understand firefighting in somewhat different climates.
“Working in different areas, obviously fire behaviour is different depending on what part of the province you’re working in so being able to work around in different fuel types, in different climates, you’ll definitely build a better skill set in terms of firefighting,” said Mikhail Elsay, Wildfire Assistance of the Penticton Fire Zone.
BC Wildfire says they would like to grow the program and attract more firefighters from across the province going forward.
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