Don Urquhart
Times-Chronicle
Over 150 hockey fans lined up on a hot smoky afternoon in downtown Osoyoos on Monday to have their photo taken with the venerated Stanley Cup in an appreciation and fundraising event for local firefighters from the Anarchist Mountain and Osoyoos fire departments.
Hosted by North Basin Brewing Co., the event raised $3,000 in just an hour and a half through the photo-by-donation event.
The Stanley Cup delighted hockey fans of all ages, genders and team loyalties during a special viewing in Osoyoos on Monday. Don Urquhart photo.
Lisa Deleo, tap room manager at North Basin said: “We want to express our complete appreciation for all the locals that showed up and appreciation for the firefighters. We are thrilled, happy, and honoured to host this fundraising event for them.”
The event was made possible by Grant Armstrong, western amateur scout for the Tampa Bay Lightning who lives part-time in Osoyoos after buying a house on Anarchist Mountain last year. Armstrong was one of the numerous residents forced to evacuate their homes for nearly two weeks.
“We felt it was important to share the cup with the community, our new community, and it’s all about giving back and letting the firefighters know how much we appreciate the work that they do and all the first responders in the area,” Armstrong said.
“It’s so nice to see the people that are here, for them to get so excited about this,” he stated, adding that whether a Canuck or Lightning fan, “you’re a fan of hockey and it doesn’t matter!”
A B.C. native, Armstrong along with a Lightning GM and also another scout, both from Vernon, add a “B.C. flavour” to the Tampa Bay, Florida organization, he laughed.
For Wayne Jasper, deputy fire chief of the Anarchist Mountain Fire Department, the timing of this charity event couldn’t have come at a better moment. “It’s been an expensive few days for us up there on the mountain, we’ve been going through hose like crazy and a lot more hours than the guys anticipated,” he said, adding that it was a nice morale booster for all the firefighters as well.
“Right now donations are extremely important, it’s going to help us get through the year and hopefully not be too dry when it’s over with. In a fire like this we just wear out the equipment,” he said.
The Stanley Cup makes its way to North Basin Brewing in the hands of Grant Armstrong, accompanied by two members of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Don Urquhart photo.
Last week the Anarchist Mountain Fire Department managed to get $5,000 worth of badly needed and high demand hose to Osoyoos within a couple of days. “The thing about wildfires, when there are hoses up there, it doesn’t last very long. At one point we probably had two miles [3.2 km] of hose up there.”
While most, but not all of it typically comes back off the mountain, the constant dragging over rough terrain and hot coals takes its toll on the expensive hose. Different from structural hose, it’s a little lighter and after hard use needs repairing and refurbishing, he said.
Lord Stanley’s Cup. Don Urquhart photo.
Jasper said he cannot even begin to estimate the cost of the fire to just his department alone but reckons it’s likely as much as they would spend in an entire firefighting year. “The final cost is going to be pretty big,” he added.
He noted this is the third time in 20 years a fire like this has hit the local area, saying it appears to be on an eight to 10 year cycle. He added that this is a unique area, and it’s difficult to predict where the fire is going to go because the wind keeps shifting. This has repeatedly been a problem identified by the BC Wildfire Service with winds shifting up to 180 degrees from day to night.
The deputy fire chief added: “We’re very fortunate that we have crews from about 20 different departments from all over B.C., plus some contract departments as well, and that’s been really good because there is no way we could do this all ourselves.”
When asked when we might see an end to the fire, Jasper responded with a grim laugh, saying “when is the snow coming?”
“Right now, it’s not moving very fast, we’re lucky at this end, but at the other end in Oliver, they’ve got different terrain and different vegetation and it seems to be a little bit more aggressive. As long as our wind is good, we’re okay.”
“If you see smoke in town that means the fire is blowing back on itself – it’s not good for tourism, but it’s good for the fire.”
On a separate note, Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff recently thanked Osoyoos Fire Rescue Chief Corey Kortmeyer on behalf of the town. “We appreciate how much you have done and our Osoyoos Fire Rescue has done this past week. They have gone above and beyond what anybody could ever have expected so we are very happy to have all of you involved and looking after us and our town and surrounding area. Thank you very much.”
