New SPU Support Team

Your Fire Department is constantly seeking committed volunteers to train as frontline fire fighters to replace our valued members who retire or move away.  If you are unable to join the department as an active member, would you be willing to join a support team that could be called upon occasionally during a larger scale emergency to augment the department’s efficiency and effectiveness?

We will be seeking Auxiliary volunteers in the spring to take a one day training course, instructed by the Office of the Fire Commissioner, to learn to deploy Structure Protection sprinklers to safeguard important infrastructure (the dock, the school, the Telus trailer etc.) and residential buildings well ahead of a wildfire front.  This support team will NOT be engaged in fire fighting.  

Through grant funding and donation the TIVFD has acquired 5 structural protection kits and pumps to make up an SPU (Structural Protection Unit) and a pickup truck for transport.  The OFC has agreed to train support volunteers on Thetis Island in its deployment - skills normally only taught to active structural fire fighters for deployment throughout BC during wildfire season.  We are a pilot project. We know that help from Vancouver Island will be very delayed even if available.

Aside from a willingness to commit to the one Saturday in the spring for training, we would ask you to be willing  to respond to a request for assistance if you were available.  We prioritize safety, and all auxiliary members are covered by WorkSafeBC when tasked by the fire commander.   

Please consider applying to become a member of this new SPU TEAM.  Other TIVFD support teams currently operational are the Water Transport Aux Team, the Rest & Rehab Aux Team, and the Emergency Scene Traffic Control Aux Team.  Rarely utilized but always ready, our Auxiliary Teams play a vital role in the safety of our community when needed.  Please contact the Fire Chief or Trustee Graeme Shelford for more information or with an expression of interest in the SPU Team or any of the others.

Thank you 

Fire Chief J. Caldbeck  firechief@thetisislandfire.ca

Graeme Shelford graemeshelford@gmail.com