By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Oliver taxpayers can breathe easier following the awarding of a $30,000 grant to the Oliver Fire Department to purchase breathing apparatus.
The grant which will cover three units of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) comes as the province announces more than $6.2 million in Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF) grants for 122 local projects, benefiting more than 200 volunteer and composite fire departments across BC.
Oliver Fire Chief Bob Graham said the SCBA is something that the department purchases on an ongoing basis as they are important for the safety of firefighters in a variety of situations including structure and car fires for instance.
The SCBAs also have a limited lifespan – about five years for the air tank and about 15 years for the apparatus itself – and are relatively costly at around $10,000 per unit.
“We applied for the grant some time ago, and this grant allows us to purchase them without using
our town taxpayer-funded budget,” said Graham.
“Many people living in smaller or remote BC communities are served by hard-working volunteer or partly volunteer fire departments,” noted George Heyman, acting Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.
These smaller departments don’t have the same resources found in larger communities and as such Heyman says funding is being provided for equipment and training to enhance local firefighting capability according to local needs.
“Firefighters in our riding do such a remarkable job keeping our communities safe, and we have seen just how needed their services are over the past few years as climate change threatens our communities with increased frequency”, says Roly Russell, MLA for Boundary-Similkameen.
“Our government is providing more resources to fire departments across our region . . . so they can purchase new equipment and deliver more training to keep doing the good work they do to help us all be safer and more secure”.
Fire departments receiving funding in the region include Grand Forks, Oliver, Princeton and the Kootenay-Boundary Regional District.
The NDP government said it has provided more than $17 million since 2017 to volunteer and composite fire departments through the CEPF for additional equipment and training.
This funding also helps fire departments meet the BC structure firefighter minimum training standards.
“Keeping people in our communities safe is a top priority and supporting our volunteer fire departments is key,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
Farnworth said the NDP government is also investing in training, equipment and mental-health support to improve firefighting and care for front-line workers.
The province has invested $369 million into CEPF since it was established in 2017.
Approximately $176 million has been provided to First Nations and local governments through CEPF for as many as 1,700 projects that help communities prepare for disasters and climate-related emergencies.
The CEPF is administered by the Union of BC Municipalities for the Province.
