Westlock area firefighters gave no second thought to responding when called upon last week to assist in the Slave Lake area wildfire efforts.
Cpt. William (Bill) Smith from the Westlock fire department and Busby fire chief Jared Stitsen returned from Slave Lake on the night of June 2, along with eight other locals. The 10 firefighters, an engine, a brush truck and a tender truck, were part of extensive efforts to secure entire communities from wildfires.
“We think of neighbours as locally, as the house next door to mine, but ... our neighbours are our communities that are near us, which Slave Lake is, and it’s no different than helping our family at home,” Stitsen said.
Smith said he sees the response as nothing more than his duty.
“That’s what I’ve been doing my whole career, so it’s just one of those things that we do,” he said.
The firefighters were deployed to Slave Lake the night of May 30 to provide assistance fighting the McMillan Wildfire Complex. Both crews were assisting with similar tasks in the same areas, but were separated to different task forces.
Smith explained this had to do with the different trucks they brought.
Friday morning, crews assisted the Slave Lake fire department at Marten Beach with structural protection, setting up a sprinkler system and testing it on the assigned buildings.
“There were seven or eight places we laid forestry hose and tied sprinkler systems,” Smith said.
Town of Westlock firefighters then were asked to cover the Town of Slave Lake from Friday night to Sunday.
“We were assigned to that as a task force with another pumper from Slave Lake,” he added.
Both crews assisted in Slave Lake with the 400-barrel tanks that had been set up around the town, in case the fire hydrants failed.
“Some of us were set up to supply water to the tanks with a tender from Busby and other ones were testing the sprinkler systems themselves,” said Stitsen.
Cooperation with the Slave Lake department was “awesome,” he said.
“We just fit right in like we were one big department and that’s the way it should be. Everyone leaves their rank and their status at home, and we just work for the common good.”
Slave Lake fire chief Jamie Coutts had high praise for the local fire crews as well.
“They went about their jobs with pride and dedication and we are very proud to have worked with our neighbours in this trying time,” he said.
Previous experience
Smith and Stitsen both have previous experience assisting in wildfires.
Smith worked with Suncor Energy as a firefighter for 21 years and assisted at fires in House River and Firebag.
During the Fort McMurray fire in 2016, both Stitsen and Smith took the trip up.
“I worked with Bill Smith at Fort Mac and it was awesome,” said Stitsen.
“All of us that went up are what we call 10-51, which is wildland, so we’ve all had the course,” said Smith of the crews’ training.
“We’re all structurally trained for buildings ... and our truck is a structural truck.”
Stitsen confirmed that the Busby crew was also trained for wildland and structure fires.
Cpt. Smith said the crew is prepared to answer a call for help as soon as wildfire season starts.
Advice for residents
To prevent fires in the community, Cpt. Smith said to “respect the fire ban.”
“People have to understand that when they put this fire ban on, it’s a serious time of the year for all of us.”
The ban is intended to take away all other causes of wildfires, apart from natural ones like lightning, during the tinder-dry days.
Stitsen advises everybody to be vigilant around all fires.”Even if there is no fire restriction or fire ban on, it’s just good practice ... if we’re at the lake having a campfire, make sure you wet it down and stir it, then wet it down again.”
