May was a busy month for the RM of Ritchot’s volunteer firefighting crew. Apart from attending to emergency situations within their own jurisdiction, a couple of teams put in extra hours assisting in Manitoba’s current wildfires.
Deputy Fire Chief Paul Houle says a six-member team from Ritchot headed out to Woodridge early in the month to assist with wildfire efforts there.
“What they ended up doing was going door to door handing out evacuation notices,” Houle says. “At that time, it was critical that everybody get out of there because the fire was headed that way.”
By mid-month, another crew, including Houle, were in the West Hawk and Caddy Lake area working on “value protection,” which refers to doing everything possible to protect things of value that lie in the line of fire. In this case, it included mostly privately owned cottages.
This time, the call came directly from the Office of the Fire Commissioner. When a situation reach that level of emergency, the province kicks in additional assistance for fire crews. Houle’s team was put up in the local hotel and provided with meals.
They were put to work installing sprinkler systems onto buildings that could be at risk.
“Pretty much every building got one,” Houle says. “At that time, the fire was about two kilometres away and they were concerned that the wind may shift and bring the fire through that cottage neighbourhood. We actually brought our pumper truck which was sucking from the lake and running lake water through all of these sprinklers.”
Once the sprinklers were tested, portable pumps were connected to replace the pumper truck.
While Manitoba has a stock of sprinkler systems for regular use during wildfire season, Houle says the province needed to look for resources beyond their own inventory this time around. The same could be said for firefighters.
“When we work in places like Woodridge, we’re working with our own mutual aid district, so we’re used to working with people from [this region],” Houle says. “But when we were up in the Whiteshell, there were firefighters from everywhere. We ended up working alongside firefighters from Rosser and Selkirk.”
When Ritchot firefighters volunteer elsewhere, though, Houle says it’s never at the peril of the RM.
“We always make sure that we still have adequate personnel and apparatus in the municipality to service the municipality.”
As for the RM’s pumper truck, Houle says it was fortunate they were able to take one of their three trucks to the Whiteshell.
“There’s not a lot of fire departments in Manitoba that can actually provide a pumper for calls like this,” Houle says. “Selkirk had one of theirs there as well. Originally, the Office of the Fire Commissioner was looking for eight pumpers and I only saw two.”
In Houle’s 29-year career as a firefighter, he says this is only the third time his teams have been called out to fight wildfires of this magnitude. He’s uncertain, at this point, whether anyone from the RM fire department will volunteer to help with the fight in northern Manitoba.
Whether at home or further away, though, local fire personnel are always ready to drop everything to save a life or a home. Houle says that appreciation is also due the employers and families who allow them to fill that important role.