What is big, red and totally pumped for Port Clements?
A brand-new fire truck.
Designed to deliver a lot of water to places without fire hydrants, the new fire truck also has a built-in pump.
“It’s a tanker and a pumper,” says Mike Van Herd, chief of the Port Clements Volunteer Department.
“It’s like the Swiss Army knife of fire trucks.”
Built in Winnipeg by Fort Garry Fire Trucks on a Freightliner chassis, the $467,000 tanker is the first new fire truck to roll into the Port Clements firehall in more than 20 years.
It can seat five firefighters and carry 2,000 imperial gallons of water. That is over 9,000 litres, or about the same volume as a pair of grey whales.
The built-in pump can flow 416 gallons of water per minute, which is less than a typical pumper truck, but plenty to supply a pair of hose lines.
On its passenger side, the new truck has a folding drop tank stored in an automated rack.
Firefighters can quickly set the drop tank on the ground, then dump all 2,000 gallons of water into it using a chute that extends off the back of the truck.
That means the firefighters running Port Clements’ two regular pumper trucks can draw water from the drop tank, leaving the new tanker free to go back toward town and refill at the nearest hydrant.
The new Fort Garry fire truck is replacing the department’s ancient 1981 International tanker, which Van Herd said is getting tough to find parts for. The 43-year-old truck has a carbureted gas engine that is easy for new drivers to flood so it won’t start — the last thing firefighters need when rushing to a call.
The new truck can be driven by anyone with a regular Class 5 license and air brakes training.
“This is a beautiful replacement,” Van Herd said, noting that the new tanker has 500 gallons more water than the old one and has better safety features, too.
“If one of our other pumpers breaks down, this one could fill the role of a pumper if it had to,” he said.
A 2019 wildfire readiness report for the Village of Port Clements said getting such a tanker truck was a top priority. Firefighters need a tanker to put out early-stage wildfires, fires at the nearby Islands Landfill, and structure fires in rural areas such as Nadu Road or in neighbouring Tlell.
Van Herd said the department has about 16 regular volunteers right now. Besides responding to calls, they practice Wednesday nights and put on community events throughout the year, including a summer BBQ and Halloween hot dogs.
The department gets roughly two calls a month, but Van Herd said call numbers vary widely. Most calls are actually to help paramedics load patients into an ambulance. Others are for vehicle crashes.
The department has had some challenging fire calls lately.
From around 8 a.m. until noon on Aug. 27, the PCVFD fought a garbage fire at the Islands Landfill that was likely sparked by batteries that made their way into the regular trash. They relied on the old tanker for water supply.
Van Herd said the landfill cells run at least 30 feet deep, so the fire could have easily spread further underground.
“They had an excavator there, which really helped. He was able to grab the burning garbage and spread it out.”
Luckily, the wind was at the firefighters’ backs. But when it dropped, anyone not wearing a mask and air tank got a smell to remember.
“Talk about stink,” said Van Herd. “If you think garbage stinks, you should smell it when it’s burning.”
One of the largest fires the department has had to fight in recent years was the one that destroyed the O’Brien Road & Bridge works-yard building last June. It took firefighters from Port Clements, Tlell and Masset as well as a helicopter with a drop bucket and many other volunteers to put it out.
Like the landfill fire, crews had to rely on water tankers instead of hydrants.
“That was one nasty fire,” said Van Herd. “In no time at all, there was nothing left of that building.”
Replacing fire trucks is a major expense for Haida Gwaii municipalities, and the delivery of the new Port Clements tanker truck was delayed and made costlier still by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The village was able to fund the purchase thanks in large part to the Northern Capital and Planning Grant — an industry-funded grant for local governments in northern B.C.
Another $250,000 was awarded by the local Gwaii Trust Society.
“It was really good of them to do that,” Van Herd said. “We’re really grateful.”