Qualicum Beach Fire Department
130 Rupert Road East V9K 1S7 Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada

For this #MeetOurMembersMonday, get to know Qualicum Beach Fire Department's Mike Insley. Mike is one of the longest serving members on the department, with 28 years under his belt, and is one of the department’s Lieutenants. One thing Mike enjoys most about being a volunteer firefighter is meeting members of the community, and the ability to help people when they’re having a bad day. When he’s not working or being a firefighter, Mike enjoys gardening and visiting his four grandchildren.

Latest COVID-19 community update for Parksville-Qualicum Beach. https://conta.cc/3gK7ypy

Some pictures from last week's annual forestry review, practicing different hose rolls, deploying hose, setting up portable ponds and using portable pumps.

Getting some hands-on time with the new training building over the last couple of weeks. Training has included initial fire attack and first responder scenarios. We're happy to have such a great resource available to us.

Welcome to 2021! We look forward to continuing to share great emergency preparedness information with you. Please share this info with neighbours, friends or family who might be interested in receiving our updates. Here is the latest edition of Your EMO eNews, happy reading!

So far this week QBFD members have walked over 755,000 steps and raised $945 for the BC Lung association. If you'd wish to donate there is a link below that takes you to our team page. For more information about the Climb the Wall 2021 Virtual Challenge, visit www.stairclimb.ca Link to donate: http://bcla.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General

It's Firetruck Friday! On this edition, we're going to show you the larger of our two Tenders, Tender 53 or T53. T53 is a 2005 Freightliner powered by a 450HP Mercedes engine, T53 is equipped with a 500GPM pump and carries 3000 imperial gallons of water when fully loaded, making it one of the larger Tenders in our district. T53 also carries a 3000 U.S gallon portable pond as well as 4 lengths of hard suction hose that is used for drafting water at locations where hydrants a...re not present/adequate for the needs of the operation. While T53 is equipped with two crosslays of 1 3/4 attack hose, its primary function is that of water transport and is often used at motor vehicle accidents as a traffic blocker. T53 was recently fitted with a LED traffic advisor board on the rear of the truck that has already proven very useful on incidents where traffic has to be diverted.

Earlier this month, Ron Smith completed 20 years of service with QBFD. We'd like to take a moment to recognize and thank Ron for his service to the community and to the department. Congrats Ron, we're looking forward to many more.

Help us support the 1 in 5! The Qualicum Beach Fire Department will be participating in the BC Lung Association's Climb the Wall 2021: Virtual Challenge. This year instead of climbing the Sheraton Wall Centre we are going to be stepping up for the 1 in 5 to see how far we can go throughout the month of February. We know so many of us have been impacted by lung disease, either personally, or through those we love. We are challenging our lungs for those that simply cannot. The ...money we raise will support the BC Lung Association's efforts in air quality and tobacco prevention initiatives, patient support programs and lung health medical research. We all breathe the air. The fight belongs to all of us. Please donate online to our fundraising page, provided in the link below. A tax receipt will be issued automatically via email. For more information about Climb the Wall 2021: Virtual Challenge please visit www.stairclimb.ca. Link to donate: http://bcla.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General

Some training with one of our recruit classes on Wednesday evening. Getting familiar with different classes of foam and how to apply them effectively.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holidays from all of us at QBFD.

Hey folks, with the holidays fast approaching here's a video for those of us who chose to have a real Christmas tree instead of store-bought. It highlights the dramatic difference in fire hazard watering your tree can make. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvcwM2zWf3I

Thank you for your support of EMO and we look forward to sharing emergency preparedness information with you in 2021. On behalf of the EMO team and the Councils... and staff of the Town of Qualicum Beach and City of Parksville, we wish you a most wonderful holiday season and a safe and healthy 2021. Here is the most recent EMO eNews for your reading pleasure! https://conta.cc/3mrPqQq See more

We have recently taken delivery of new Holmatro auto extrication tools and two new battery-operated scene lights. Thanks to the outstanding work by our public works department, the new tools are now mounted on the trucks and in service.

On Monday, QBFD responded to three calls related to the high wind speeds including the one pictured. On Tuesday, we responded to a single-vehicle MVI, thankfully there were no injuries either day.

Boots for Food 2020 drive in November was a huge success thanks to generosity of residents and volunteers with District 69 fire departments. Six departments raised 1,084 pounds of food and $93,051 in cash for the Salvation Army foodbank. www.parksvillefirerescue.ca/blog/72

The Qualicum Beach Fire Department would like to thank our awesome community members for contributing over $11,000 to the Salvation Army's Food Drive this past weekend!

Our QBFD members have been out all weekend for our Boots for Food drive, raising funds on behalf of the Salvation Army Food Bank. Members of the public have been very generous and have filled those boots. Thanks to everyone for your participation in support of our community!

This weekend keep an eye out for our firefighters that will be collecting donations for this year's food drive. We will be outside QF, Home Hardware, the Liquor store, and at the Eaglecrest sign. Unfortunately due to the COVID pandemic we are only able to accept cash donations this year. We look forward to seeing everyone.

Today we remember those who have served and sacrificed, and currently serve, on our behalf. Glorious and free; we are truly fortunate to be Canadian.

When the Captain has a birthday but Pandemic restrictions won’t let us celebrate as a group we decorated his office in Fire Dept style

Ventilation Index forecast for today: Morning - FAIR Afternoon - GOOD

The fire departments of Qualicum Beach, Dashwood, and Coombs-Hillers have now completed the joint regional training building project which is now in use. The modular training building is designed with rooms, doors, windows and stairs to simulate a residential house. The building will be used for skill and scenario-based training. As well, it provides the ability to advance program development and train instructors. It will also be available to other fire or emergency services... partners in the region which will enhance regional training and build on long existing, positive, inter-departmental relationships. Nick Acciavatti, Fire Chief for Dashwood Fire Department relayed, This is an amazing opportunity for our local firefighters and our communities. We are truly lucky to have a collaborative effort between our fire departments to achieve this goal. The new training facility will be huge benefit for our firefighters and ultimately our communities. We look forward to utilizing the new training building for years and years to come. Marc Norris, Fire Chief for Qualicum Beach & Parksville noted, This training building will benefit us and our regional partners by providing enhanced access to excellent training opportunities, which in turn helps to ensure the best possible delivery of service to the citizens of, and visitors to, our region. This collaboration is indicative of the ability and commitment of our local fire rescue departments to work together collectively. Aaron Poirier, Fire Chief for Coombs-Hilliers commented, This building is another of example of communities coming together to complement the fire service delivery model from a collaborative approach. This building enables firefighters to train on a multitude of scenarios on a more frequent basis thus helping to ensure a consistent service delivery model to all communities. Primary funding for this project of $75,000 was made possible through the Union of British Columbia Municipalities Community Emergency Preparedness Fund.

The vent index forecast for this afternoon - GOOD Tomorrow morning - POOR Tomorrow afternoon - GOOD

For those in the town of Qualicum Beach who have a Garden Refuse Burning Permit issued by the municipality, here is the link to check the daily vent index issued by the BC Ministry of Environment: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/venting/ The forecast for Thursday, October 15th is FAIR. The index must be rated GOOD for burning to proceed.

Happy Thanksgiving from our fire rescue family to you and yours. What are we thankful for today? - community - dedicated, hardworking, thoughtful members... - our emergency services partners - loved one's - turkeys Stay safe!

We'll be thankful if everyone stays safe over the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This picture is from Fire Prevention Week 14 years ago. In an effort to keep our social-bubbles small, we chose not to visit the schools this year and cancelled our open house as well. This marks the first time in over 20 years that we haven't been to the schools to share fire safety tips. We hope to see everyone next year though!

Don't be a Doofus - pay attention in the kitchen

Save Netflix for later, put on some tunes and hang out in the kitchen while you create a gastronomic masterpiece.

Here’s the October EMO enewsletter. Sign up to receive info directly to your inbox! https://conta.cc/3lh5YKW