A day in the life of 100 Mile Fire Rescue Chief Roger Hollander starts before he even reaches the hall.
He begins by checking the Active911 app to see who is on duty and their level of training. Those with blue hats, for example, are only rated for exterior firefighting, and yellow hats for interior. Red hats are fellow officers with leadership experience.
“It just gives me a little comfort and lowers my blood pressure to know there are a few people who are willing to respond,” he said.
When he arrives at the hall just before 8 a.m., he does a full sweep of the hall, making sure the air compressor is fully functioning, the trucks are ready to roll out and firefighter gear is properly stored.
“To set the tone, everything that we do has to be at a level we call response readiness,” he said. “Equipment can’t just be thrown around like a weed eater in your garage. It has to be ready to deploy for another incident.”
If there are no emergencies, Hollander gets started on the paperwork, including calculating payroll and scheduling building inspections. Every second, though, he is ready to respond, knowing it’s only a matter of time. The department, a hybrid of paid and on-call volunteer firefighters, responds to 500 calls every year. There are 25 members in the 100 Mile Fire Rescue department.
When a call comes in and Hollander is the duty officer, he immediately drives to the scene to establish a perimeter. If deputy chief Dave Bissatt is the duty officer, Hollander stays in the hall and watches the events unfold on the Active911 app. The app displays the location of the incident, as well as tracks where the responding firefighters are in the South Cariboo.
This information allows him to send the most qualified members to a scene first to provide the best possible outcome for the general public.
“These men and women are at work or home and when the pager goes off they respond from wherever they are. It’s an enormous amount of responsibility and commitment to do what they’re able to do so I’m so proud of our particular group,” Hollander said. “We ask that if they are available to come anytime during the day and some of them are able to put down what they’re doing and come right away.”
On-call firefighters are required to respond to at least 20 per cent of calls and at times they can get up to 10 a week, according to on-call Lieut. Ryan Dugaro. Dugaro, a supervisor for youth family services at the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre, said he has the flexibility to respond to at least two calls a week and there’s always “a little bump of adrenaline” when his pager goes off.
“I sort of consider it my full-time hobby. It’s a big time commitment especially when we’re doing (weekly training) and more than a call a day,” said Dugaro, who has been with the hall for six years. “I just try to make what I can and that keeps me out of trouble.”
The department aims to respond within eight minutes, but Dugaro said they don’t rush but try to get there in the safest and most efficient way possible.
READ MORE: Call list increasing for fire department
After returning from a call, firefighters clean up the truck and store their gear in preparation for the next emergency. Depending on the time and length of the call they’ll sometimes socialize afterward over a cup of coffee. Dugaro said that camaraderie is the main appeal of working as a volunteer firefighter.
“There are so many good people who have signed up to give their time,” Dugaro said.
Firefighter Delaney Speers, who teaches elementary school, said her stepfather has been a long-time member of the hall, and she decided to join two years ago.
“It just becomes a part of your daily life,” Speers said. “When you’re really interested in helping everybody, I find it really easy to put that time in.”
Hollander noted his members put in hundreds of other hours of volunteer work attending community events and helping out when they’re needed. They also practice for two hours on Wednesday nights, while a committee plans their social events, which includes group BBQs and bowling.
“We put a heck of a lot of extra time in just to keep the hall operating,” he said. “We have a really great culture here. We take the job seriously but we don’t take ourselves seriously, we still have a lot of fun.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.