WEDNESDAY APRIL 17 2024
$1.25
NEWSSTAND PRICE
NEWS4
Net loss
POET SVETLANA ISCHENKO
Tennis players voice concerns over loss of several public courts
ARTS14
Moving poetry
Poet Svetlana Ischenko documents journey from Ukraine to Canada
SPORTS22
Paddlesport milestone
NEW
Deep Cove celebrates 25th anniversary of weekly race series Weekend Forecast Inside
local matters . since 1969
NORTHSHORENEWS
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS AT
nsnews.com
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
Multi-agency response douses mock wildfire at North Van camp NICK LABA
nlaba@nsnews.com
It’s 9 p.m. on the first day of the sweltering month of August. As the sun is setting, a recreational boater notices a glow from a depression on the eastern slopes of Indian Arm – the more they look, the more they become certain that what they’re seeing is a wildfire.
Actually, it’s 9 a.m. on a rainy April 11, and District of North Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services is preparing to launch a multi-agency exercise in response to a mock wildfire at the boat-access-only Camp Jubilee. At an introductory briefing in Deep Cove’s Panorama Park, dozens of personnel gather from the likes of West Vancouver Fire & Rescue, North Shore Rescue, North Shore Emergency Management, Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, BC Wildfire Service and Metro Vancouver Watershed Protection. Effective collaboration is a critical marker of success when it comes to responding to emergencies like this, says Mike Danks, Chief of DNVFRS. “Exercises like this are extremely important,” he said. “They help us identify functional strengths and gaps in our responses, and give us an opportunity to improve and increase our preparedness before an actual event happens.”
Firefighter Phineas Wrenshall from Metro Vancouver Watershed Protection uses a hose to douse a mock wildfire during a multi-agency training exercise at North Vancouver’s Camp Jubilee April 11. NICK LABA / NSN Last year’s wildfire season was one of the most destructive in the province’s recorded history. With snowpack levels already well below average, and hot weather forecasted to follow, experts are anticipating another tough wildfire season. “The mountains are our backyard on the North Shore, which makes us particularly vulnerable to wildfires,” Danks
said. “Our priority is to be as prepared as possible for scenarios like this.” In the scenario, strong winds quickly turned the smouldering remains of a kayaking group’s campfire into a five-hectare blaze by the time it was first discovered. On the day of the simulated exercise, the mock next morning, that Continued on A32