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Telkwa Fire Department to start in-person training again

Fire Chief Turney gave an update on the department at the last regular council meeting
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The Telkwa Fire Department received its first call in 38 days last week.

Fire Chief Laurence Turney told village councillors at their May 12 regular meeting that he thinks that was a record for not having any calls at their department for that long.

The incident was a minor vehicle accident by the disc golf course.

Turney also told council during his monthly emergency management update that he is looking at the level of requirements to keeping up with the Emergency Operations Centre and downgrading from level 1 to a monitoring level as COVID-19 slows down.

He also mentioned that the department will be starting up in-person practising again this week in PPE and taking the training outside after doing online training since the pandemic hit in March.

Mayor Brad Layton asked if Turney had seen any predictions for this year’s freshet.

“We are not expecting to see anything. We are basically at the high point. We are listening in on Houston and Smithers and no one seems to be having any issues at this point. We don’t expect things to change. Everything is gone from the lower elevations so we are just dealing with the snow pack at higher elevations,” Turney answered. “The only concern was having the cold weather and then getting hot really quick but it went up and down enough to space it out. We are lucky.”

Turney also gave an update on the mass communication system the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako is rolling out.

There is now a name for it. It will be called the Bulkley Nechako Emergency and Public Alerts and the RDBN is now working on a logo. More information about the system will be provided soon.



Marisca Bakker

About the Author: Marisca Bakker

Marisca was born and raised in Ontario and moved to Smithers almost ten years ago on a one-year contract.
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