Ashcroft Fire Rescue (AFR) was quick to the scene of a fire in downtown Ashcroft, and firefighters were able to prevent it spreading to nearby structures.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Monday (July 29), AFR received a call regarding a fire in a detached garage on the 400-block of Brink Street. Firefighters responding to the call found that the standalone garage at the back of a property on Bancroft Street was on fire.
The garage, used by the owner as a workshop, was immediately adjacent to Brink Lane and beside the Juniper Apartments building. Firefighters worked quickly to contain the fire to the garage, and prevent it spreading to neighbouring buildings or wooden fences.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but arson has been ruled out. There were no injuries reported at the scene.
The response time from receiving the call from Kamloops Fire Dispatch to arriving on scene was six minutes. A total of 14 firefighters responded, and AFR chief Josh White is grateful to local employers for allowing firefighters to leave their jobs to respond to fires.
"It's so important. We're really blessed in this community as far as employers go, allowing employees to attend these calls. We tell the firefighters that family is your first priority, work is your number two priority, and the fire department is a distant third. Some employers can be down one or two employees when we get a call, but when they allow firefighters to fight these fires it allows us to fight them faster, get them out faster, clean up, and get the trucks back in service quickly."
White adds that the actions taken by members of the public on seeing the fire were the right ones.
"Multiple calls came in to 9-1-1, and I was contacted directly by Home Hardware staff to say there was a working fire in the downtown, so I was on it about 10 seconds before we got the call [from fire dispatch]. That was great because every second counts.
"Calling 9-1-1 was the right thing for the public to do. It gave us a rapid response time. There was a potential for some rapid releases, with fuels being stored in the building, but with a quick reaction time we were able to get water on it quickly and avoid explosions."
It has been a busy month for Ashcroft Fire Rescue; of the 34 calls for service received so far this year, 15 have come in July. White adds that only one of those calls was related to the Shetland Creek wildfire. June saw seven calls for service, and White notes that a lot of the calls they have seen in July are weather-related.
He adds that there were some relatively new members of the department who responded to the fire on July 29, but that experienced crew members were able to lead the more inexperienced ones on what was a smaller-sized fire.
"It was a good learning experience. We could knock this one down and then give our new members some hands-on lessons in using some tools and breaking through the roof line so we could get water on the hot spots.
"I couldn't be prouder of the department as a whole. Everyone kept calm and did as they were told. I was really happy with the outcome; the fire was out quickly and no one was injured. The training we have been doing really paid off."
