Fernie Firefighters Supporting BC Wildfire Response

July 26, 2024

The Fernie Fire and Emergency Services department (FFESD) were contacted by BC Wildfire Wednesday evening requesting resources in support of structure protection activities to defend the communities near Argenta at Kootenay Lake from wildfires.

With the increase in wildfires over the past years FFESD made the decision over the winter to train firefighters over the spring for this type of deployment. FFESD also re-configured the old rescue truck as a wildland response truck.

 Thursday morning a crew of three firefighters (2 career and 1 auxiliary) deployed to Kootenay Lake. The total deployment will be for 14 days, but crews will likely rotate after 7 days with three different firefighters responding for the second week.

 Before committing to the deployment FFESD and the City of Fernie ensured enough resources have remained in Fernie to respond to any incident locally.