Dawson Creek Fire Services Expansion

• The DCFD responds to numerous incidents including fire suppression, road rescue, hazmat, confined space entry, rope rescue, and wildland fire.
• The DCFD is a full service, professional fire department serving 13,000 city residents.
• The department has 1 fire chief, 1 deputy chief, 1 prevention officer, and 16 firefighters
• The department also has an auxiliary firefighter program, adding at times an additional 8 - 12 volunteer firefighters.
• Fire training centre for the department to actively train

After the wildfires in 2016, a petition was brought to the PRRD (2019) which contained roughly 80 residents asking for the Regional District to investigate fire protection being expanded to the South Dawson and Briar Ridge areas. Since then, considerable work has gone into finding the best option available for the residents of those areas; which now includes Riley's Crossing. Approximately a combined 337 properties are in the proposed expansion area.

Fire Protection
If the fire protection expands to your area, the services that will be included are:

• structural fire protection - responding to fires impacting homes, farms and businesses;
• interface fire protection - responding to fires in the interface between the community and the forest lands. Often local fire departments will work closely with the BC Wildfire service
• fire prevention and public education: conducting reviews with businesses in the area to learn about their structures and any hazards that may exist which could impact the strategies employed during a fire response and conducting public education through open houses, classroom visits, etc.

Building Inspection
If the fire protection area expands to your area, the Electoral Area Director will recommend to the Regional Board to expand the mandatory building inspection area to match this increased fire protection boundary. In 2017, the boundaries of the mandatory building inspection area were amended to match the existing fire protection areas served by municipal fire departments. In order to support the safety of responding fire fighters and their mutual aid partners from other departments, many of the municipal fire services requested that building inspection be mandatory in the fire protection areas that they serve. This means that if you plan to build in the future, a building permit may be required depending on the size of your project and what is being built (note: farm buildings are exempt). Not all new buildings or renovations will require a permit; therefore, if the fire protection and building inspection areas are expanded, it is important to check with the PRRD to determine if a permit is required when you plan to build. Existing buildings do not require a permit if they are not undergoing any alterations.

Dawson Creek Fire Rescue Fleet:

Engine 1
2007 Spartan/Hub pumper truck with a Waterous 1250 pump. Carries 700 gallons of water and 30 gallons of foam.

Engine 2
2013 Spartan/Hub pumper truck with a Waterous 1750 pump. Carries 500 gallons of water and 30 gallons of foam.

Tender 3
2018 Freightliner/Hub tandem axle tanker truck with a Waterous 500 pump. Carries 2000 gallons of water

Ladder 4
2001 HME/Fort Garry Ladder truck with a Waterous 1250 pump. Carries 350 gallons of water and 10 gallons of foam.

Rescue 5
2018 Freightliner/Hub 4X4 rescue truck with a trimax 30 water system and a 30 gallon premixed solution.

FD 8
2016 Ford F350 (1 ton) equipped with the following: 

• Summer: brush fire skid unit with a 20 HP Kohler pump, 200 gallon water tank with 8 gallons of foam.
• Winter: equipped with 2^nd set of road rescue tools/medical equipment to be used as a secondary apparatus to Rescue #5

Prevention 6 

2010 Chevrolet 1500 fire prevention and education truck

Command 9 Vehicle

Command 10 Vehicle