The frigid temperatures made fighting a house fire east of Smithers on Van Gaalen Rd, tough on Jan 12.
Fire crews from both Telkwa and Smithers, 23 in total, were on the scene for approximately eight hours, with about two hours of cleanup afterward.
There were no causalities or injuries, but a single-family home was destroyed.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The mercury had dropped down to - 29 C that morning when crews were called out shortly after 9 a.m. to battle a blaze in the dwelling.
Smithers Fire Chief Derek Dickson said it is hard on the crews and the equipment when it gets that cold.
“We had some significant challenges with a number of pieces of our equipment, including on our trucks, we ended up having two of our water valves on our tender, which is our water supply for rural fires, damaged. They ended up working, we were able to utilize them, but they were leaking quite heavily when we got them back to the fire hall. So they’re going to have to be replaced.”
He added the crew also had to deal with fogged-up and frozen masks and cold, wet feet and fingers as well as making sure the hoses didn’t freeze.
Dickson said while the conditions were tough, the crew— who are all volunteers, was tougher.