Sproat Lake Volunteer Fire Department

08/31/2026

Hi all

Last week’s page outs were a Duty Investigation late on Sunday (which turned out to be a small wildland fire that our department had authority to action - a couple of pics attached), an FR Red on Fri, an FR Orange on Sat, an AMA Structure Fire (in Port Alberni’s area, stood down) on Sun, an FR Orange on Sun, and a Burning Complaint (no issues) on Sun.

Air Quality - Excellent

Fire Danger Rating, Prohibitions and Restrictions - ACRD Bylaw and Provincial Rules
Danger Class - Moderate and forecasted to remain Moderate
Camp Fires Category 1 - Closed
Category A (ACRD)/Category 2 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed
Category B (ACRD)/Category 3 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed

The following activities and use of equipment, materials and substances are also prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre:
Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC
Binary exploding targets
Sky Lanterns
Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description
Controlled air incinerators
Air curtain burners
Carbonizers
Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is
incorporated in a building

Active Wildfires
Province: 199 - up from 173
Vancouver Island: 11 - down from 25

Sports: MLB - Blue Jays fell to 7th with a 67 - 70 record in the American League. MLS - Vancouver remains 1st in the Western conference with Toronto remaining 10th and Montreal dropping to 14th in the Eastern conference. CFL - yup, no change, still 1 winless team (Ottawa) after week 13. NFL - regular season starts 09 Sep. Slopitch - Parksville Seniors Outdoor League - this summer we were the Undertakers. After winning the regular season, the playoffs were exciting. We prevailed to make the finals, but due to weather, were unable to play the championship game. Heavy sigh….. Both teams were awarded a tie.

Tues night’s practice was our monthly hall night. Various tasks from vehicle maintenance and cleaning, inventories, and hall maintenance.

On Sat, after a quick breakfast, Duty Crew Charlie was busy at Hall 2 doing some drafting and pumping. Led by Lt Daryl this week, the crew was getting water from multiple sources (drafting and nursing from Tender 44) for engine 49. Quick change overs allowed FFs to get in some good training for both vehicles.

SLFD has been working towards getting a fire boat. Progress is being made - the ACRD Board of Directors has approved the purchase and Riptide Marine from Parksville has been selected. More to follow as info becomes available.

Recruitment drive never ends - “Be The Difference”.

Stay safe one and all. Please do not drink and drive.

Capt Tony

08/24/2026

08/24/2026

Hi all

Last week’s page outs were an FR Orange on Monday, FR Assist Routine on Weds, a Duty Investigation on Fri, and an MVI on Fri.

Air Quality - Excellent

Fire Danger Rating, Prohibitions and Restrictions - ACRD Bylaw and Provincial Rules
Danger Class - High and forecasted to remain High
Camp Fires Category 1 - Closed
Category A (ACRD)/Category 2 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed
Category B (ACRD)/Category 3 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed

The following activities and use of equipment, materials and substances are also prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre:
Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC
Binary exploding targets
Sky Lanterns
Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description
Controlled air incinerators
Air curtain burners
Carbonizers
Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is
incorporated in a building

Active Wildfires
Province: 173 - up from 131
Vancouver Island: 25 - up from 15

Sports: MLB - Blue Jays fell to 7th with a 64 - 677 record in the American League. MLS - Vancouver back in 1st in the Western conference with Toronto rising to 10th and Montreal staying in 13th in the Eastern conference. CFL - yup, no change, still 1 winless team (Ottawa) after week 12.

Tues night’s practice had all outside Hall 3 doing wildland basics. Always important to quickly get the initial setup up and running. At the same time we had some of our new FFs going thru dressing a hydrant.

On Sat, after a quick breakfast, Duty Crew Bravo was busy with some brush cleanup at the training site. Time was also taken to discuss different wildfire strategies.

Recruitment drive never ends - “Be The Difference”.

Stay safe one and all. Please do not drink and drive.

Capt Tony

08/16/2026

Hi all

Last week’s page outs were an MV Fire on Mon, an FR Orange on Mon, a Burning Complaint (no issues) on Weds, an AMA Structure Fire (in Port Alberni’s area) on Thurs, another AMA Structure Fire (in Port Alberni’s area) on Fri, and a Hydro Trouble on Fri.

Air Quality - Fair

Fire Danger Rating, Prohibitions and Restrictions - ACRD Bylaw and Provincial Rules
Danger Class - High and forecasted to remain High
Camp Fires Category 1 - Closed
Category A (ACRD)/Category 2 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed
Category B (ACRD)/Category 3 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed

The following activities and use of equipment, materials and substances are also prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre:
Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC
Binary exploding targets
Sky Lanterns
Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description
Controlled air incinerators
Air curtain burners
Carbonizers
Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is
incorporated in a building

Active Wildfires
Province: 131 - up from 129
Vancouver Island: 15 - up from 2

Sports: MLB - Blue Jays jumped to 7th with a 61 - 64 record in the American League. MLS - Vancouver dropped to 2nd in the Western conference with Toronto remaining 12th and Montreal rising to 13th in the Eastern conference. CFL - on repeat now, still 1 winless team (Ottawa) remains after week 11.

Tues night’s practice was practicing various First Responder (FR) events. Four groups were busy with Naloxone use, Blood Pressure and Blood Glucose monitoring, Rolls and Neck Braces, and Equipment Orientation. A great evening for all FFs.

On Thursday, some of our new FFs started water supply and hydrant use.

Did you know we have 2 types of hydrants that we can use for our area? We have a few regular hydrants (pressurized) and 3 dry hydrants. The regular hydrants are on the edge of our area closest to Port and the dry hydrants are located by the fire halls on Lakeshore and Faber and 1 at the boat launch on Great Central Lake. Only fire trucks can use dry hydrants as they draft the water from these “tubes”.

On Sat, after a quick breakfast, Duty Crew Alpha was busy conducting practicals for new FFs on deck gun, shuttting off utilities, and 2.5” hose operations. Also got in some pumping and drafting

Recruitment drive never ends - “Be The Difference”.

Stay safe one and all. Please do not drink and drive.

Capt Tony

08/10/2026

Hi all

Last week’s page outs were an FR Red late on Sun, an FR Orange (that turned into a Low Slope Rescue) on Fri, and an Alarms Residential on Fri.

Air Quality - Excellent

Fire Danger Rating, Prohibitions and Restrictions - ACRD Bylaw and Provincial Rules
Danger Class - High and forecasted to remain High
Camp Fires Category 1 - Closed
Category A (ACRD)/Category 2 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed
Category B (ACRD)/Category 3 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed

The following activities and use of equipment, materials and substances are also prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre:
Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC
Binary exploding targets
Sky Lanterns
Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description
Controlled air incinerators
Air curtain burners
Carbonizers
Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is incorporated in a building

Active Wildfires
Province: 102 - down from 129
Vancouver Island: 2 - down from 3

Sports: MLB - Blue Jays remained 12th with a 54 - 61 record in the American League. MLS - Vancouver remains 1st in the Western conference with Toronto remaining 12th and Montreal dropping to 14th in the Eastern conference. CFL - Yup, still 1 winless team (Ottawa) remains after week 10.

Tues night’s practice was practicing different nozzle movements. Recently, 4 of our FFs took this course and now took the evening to show and practice these techniques with new and seasoned FFs alike. A great evening.

On Sat, after a quick breakfast, Duty Crew Delta was at the drag races in town. Afterwards they were able to check out access and equipment at a local property.

Getting a Junior firefighter interested early….

Recruitment drive never ends - “Be The Difference”.

Stay safe one and all. Please do not drink and drive.

Capt Tony

08/03/2026

Hi all

Last week’s page outs were an FR Red on Tues, an MVI Extrication on Thurs, a Burning Complaint (stood down as not in our area), an FR Red on Fri, and an FR Red on Sun (stood down as not in our area).

Air Quality - Excellent

Fire Danger Rating, Prohibitions and Restrictions - ACRD Bylaw and Provincial Rules
Danger Class - Low and forecasted to rise to Moderate
Camp Fires Category 1 - Closed
Category A (ACRD)/Category 2 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed
Category B (ACRD)/Category 3 (Provincial) - ACRD Closed

The following activities and use of equipment, materials and substances are also prohibited throughout the Coastal Fire Centre:

Fireworks, as defined in the Fireworks Act of BC

Binary exploding targets

Sky Lanterns

Burn barrels or burn cages of any size or description

Controlled air incinerators

Air curtain burners

Carbonizers

Wood fired hot tubs, wood fired pizza ovens and other wood fired devices unless vented through a structure that has a flue and is incorporated in a building

Active Wildfires
Province: 129 - down from 148
Vancouver Island: 3 - down from 6

Sports: MLB - Blue Jays remained 12th with a 52 - 59 record in the American League. MLS - Vancouver remains 1st in the Western conference with Toronto remaining 12th and Montreal dropping to 14th in the Eastern conference. CFL - 1 winless team (Ottawa) still remains after week 9.

Tues night’s practice was Hall night. Various activities from inventories, vehicle maintenance and even getting some driving in for new drivers.

On Sat, after a quick breakfast, Duty Crew Charlie headed to Hall 2 to get a couple of training events in. First, was doing some pumping utilizing 3 sources of water - E41’s water tank, drafting from the dry hydrant, and nursing from T45. An important task is to transition from the different sources while maintaining discharge pressure. The other training was a quick refresher on low slope rescue. Knowing the equipment and its use is critical when on a scene.

Also on Sat, some of our FFs were at the training site going thru fire suppression.

Recruitment drive never ends - “Be The Difference”.

Stay safe one and all. Please do not drink and drive.

Capt Tony