Skip to content

Canim Lake firefighters aid in effort

“We all decided to see what we can do to help”
8181932_web1_170823-OMH-M-canim
William Henderson (left), Mike Emile, Lenny Emile, Crew Leader Gregg Archie and Zach Smith. Submitted photo.

Zach Smith has been part of the Canim Lake Volunteer Fire Department for a few years but says it was his first time going out to a wildfire.

“Actually, my first deployment was just last week onto the fire. I work for West Fraser most of the time and took a little bit of a leave of absence to help out here and we went to the Buffalo Lake fire three four days ago and just got back.”

It was interesting, says Smith.

“To be on the front line and to see how the ministry is dealing with the fires. At least the section that we had, they did a really good job of containing it so that we were able to go in and mop it up. They made good use of their helicopters to bomb it and to corner it so that it wouldn’t spread until we got there, to get inside and to mop it up with hoses and stuff.”

They drove most of the way there, says Smith.

“And then we had to hike about between half a kilometer to a kilometer in through swamp and then up to the forest into the section that we were on.”

With the help of danger tree assessors, they identified trees to cut down.

“We cut down a lot of trees that were on fire or that were at risk of being on fire and then you bucket up and keep it all contained in the middle of the fire zone, not on the outside. Then we had to move our pumps around. There was a small water source, there was a little bit of a swamp that was there, and that’s where we located our pump. Then we had to run about 400 meters of hosing from that pump to our fire line. Once that was set up, you take your equipment like your hand tools and you go around and start digging up the hotspots.”

A lot of the trees were already burned and it’s not too scary because there are professionals there with a structure and a way to do things, says Smith.

“People have looked at these things and decided what the best way to do things is and there’s a lot of common sense involved too. As long as you’re always thinking safety first and making sure that a professional is taking care of it, someone who’s experienced, it always goes usually pretty well.”

The type of ground plays a big factor too, says Smith.

“A lot of the ground here is clay so it retains a lot of the heat from the fire. So you have to find those hot spots dig them up. It’s time-consuming because there’s a lot of hotspots in the fire zone. So you dig them up and then you water them down and it’s just a continual process.”

The next step is cold trailing, according to Smith.

“First, we clear the perimeter of the fire. So there’s a big burn mark right around the whole fire so you clear all the brush and stuff away so you can see the black outline. Then you go along it with your hands, when it’s safe to do so and you’re digging your hands into the ground. You’re finding any hotspots because the way the ground is here, there’s a lot of dry moss and leaves and the fire will actually travel underground where you can’t even see it and then you’re waiting for the right circumstances when the wind picks up and it’s really dry out then it can spark back up. So it’s a really time-consuming process of just constantly digging and digging and just making sure you got every hotspot you can find.”

Smith says his wife and kids evacuated during the Gustafsen fire but he stayed behind.

“When your province is on fire, you can either sit somewhere in a hotel room and watch it on TV or you can go and do something. I’m first responder and have a level 3 first aid plus I’m a heavy equipment operator too, so there’s a lot of skills there that are necessary to be out there. So instead of me sitting at home, and just like a lot of other people here [at the Canim Lake band], we all decided to see what we can do to help.”