Many training scenarios offered visiting firefighters a wealth of knowledge and firsthand experience during the training seminar hosted by the Oliver Fire Department last weekend.
Photo by Keith Lacey
Town of Oliver Fire Chief Dan Skaros was beaming with a broad smile as his department did another fantastic job in hosting the British Columbia Volunteer Firefighters Shut-Up and Train Spring Training Seminar this past weekend.
More than 350 volunteer firefighters from across the province gathered in Oliver Community Park to participate in the annual event.
For more than 30 years, the Oliver Fire Department has hosted the annual event nearly every second year – volunteer fire departments from across the province make bids to host the event on the years it isn’t held in Oliver.
The event is all about sharing information on the latest techniques used to fight fire and allow volunteer firefighters to test and show off their skills in simulated training sessions spread out over two days, said Skaros.
“It’s a real honour for the volunteers with our department to be able to host this event every second year,” said Skaros, who has been the fire chief in Oliver for seven years and a volunteer firefighter for more than 32 years. “It takes a lot of time and effort to organize this event, but our members don’t mind putting in all the hard work because we always run a successful event and the volunteers from all over the province are always happy to be coming back to Oliver.”
The dozens of volunteer firefighters who participate in the spring training sessions move from one training apparatus to the other before things wrap up Sunday.
Some of the training sessions included such common firefighting terms and methods such as stabilization maze, initial attack, ghost maze, forcible entry, forestry high pressure unit, guerilla knots, pyro safety, foam pit, confined spaces training, RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit, vehicle fires, swift water rescue, ladder rescue bailouts and environmental spills.
Experienced professional firefighters and volunteers are brought in from across the province to lead the training sessions.
Volunteers from Oliver, Osoyoos, Okanagan Falls, Penticton, Naramata, Summerland, Peachland, West Kelowna and Kelowna all participated last weekend.
The spring training sessions started about 35 years ago when the Town of Oliver department volunteered to host the event and that inaugural event was so successful that the town’s fire department has hosted every second year ever since, said Skaros.
“There have been a couple of times when no one else stepped forward and we did it a couple of years in a row, but for the most part it has been every second year since we first started 34 years ago,” he said.
The amount of support for this event is incredible, said Skaros.
Weyerhaeuser forest products in Princeton and Gorman Brothers forest products in Westbank have both provided wood products free of charge for many years as major corporate sponsors of the event, and FortisBC has also been a loyal corporate sponsor, he said.
“The amount of community support we get from the big forest companies and the local business community here in Oliver is just incredible,” said Skaros. “All of the businesses really want to be part of this event.”
The spring training sessions are all about sharing information, acquiring knowledge and showcasing the skills of hard-working volunteer firefighters, said Skaros.
“It’s not about showing off, but more about showing how important training and teamwork are in this business,” he said. “The key to success with any volunteer fire department is working together as a team.”
The 26 current members with the Oliver Fire Department sold dozens of Hold the Line T-shirts this past weekend and helped raise more than $10,000 that will be donated to help citizens in Rock Creek and Midway who lost their homes during last summer’s wildfires, said Skaros.
Michelle Petrusevich, public safety manager with FortisBC, said safety remains their highest priority and they are very supportive of all the efforts made by first responders in emergencies.
By Keith Lacey
