Starting on Thursday, campfires will be banned in the Kamloops Fire Centre. (Flickr)

Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times 

The Osoyoos Fire Chief is not mincing words when it comes to backcountry campfires this weekend, with more calls to service meaning more possibility of COVID-19 exposure which would “decimate” the local department.

“I have great concerns that people will continue to look for loopholes and not follow provincial and federal directions,” Dave McMahon, Osoyoos Fire Chief said. “We’re all being told to stay at home other than essential travel for groceries and other essentials.”

Minutes after McMahon called the Osoyoos Times to express his concerns, a grass fire had broken out on Anarchist Mountain (more to come).

While the grass may look green in the orchards around town, there is still a lot of dry fuel this time of year and the more calls exposing the local fire department to the public, the higher the chance of putting the entire area at risk of losing fire service.

If the fire department is contaminated with COVID-19 “this fire department will be decimated and unable to provide fire services,” McMahons told the Osoyoos Times Thursday.

“I’m highly concerned about the activities that I’m seeing,” McMahon said. “These are serious, unprecedented times. People need to really concentrate on what we’re being told. There is an unhealthy attachment to fires, whether it’s people wanting to burn or exercise their right to burn. It doesn’t fit with the direction we’ve all been given.”

There have already been incidents of unattended campfires in town and around the area, one of which the RCMP has become involved in investigating. A province-wide burning ban, including campfires, comes into effect April 16 in B.C., but McMahon is asking residents in the area to be proactive and not burn anything. A campfire ban was put into effect in the Central Okanagan last week.

“There should be nobody looking to be out in the backcountry camping and having campfires,” McMahon said.

Osoyoos has the support of the Anarchist Mountain Fire Department as well, with Chief Urs Grob joining McMahon in the call to stop burning of all kinds.

“I’m just asking people to really stay at home like we are all supposed to be and not be in the backcountry having campfires. It’s going to put us in real harms way,” McMahon said.

Larger agricultural burns have been banned, and municipal bylaws ban open burning in Osoyoos of any kind, however, McMahon noted with a provincial campfire ban coming, he can only ask people in surrounding rural areas to avoid having fires or camping in the backcountry.

Last week provincial health authorities told firefighters across the province not to respond to medical emergencies unless there was an immediate threat to a person’s life a. The Osoyoos Fire Department doesn’t have first responder licensing, but does usually attend medical calls to assist BC Health Services.

“As the pandemic evolved I reduced that down to not responding because we haven’t got the PPE,” McMahon said. “Right now, we are the primary road rescue agency for this area, so we still go out to Keremeos, we still go out to Bridesville, we go up to Oliver. We are still put in the face of possible exposure to COVID-19 and still have very limited PPE.”

The possibility will always be there that fire crews could be exposed to COVID-19, McMahon said, with the department taking extraordinary precautions for weeks closing the fire hall and sanitizing everything firefighters touch.