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The Revelstoke Primary Attack Base is located approximately eight kilometers north of the City of Revelstoke, overlooking the west end of B.C.Hydro's Revelstoke Dam on the Columbia River.
During the fire season, two Forest Protection Officers, a Forest Protection Assistant, a Base Manager, a twenty person Unit Crew and five, three person Initial Attack crews work here, ready for dispatch to any fire call. If fire activity requires prepositioning additional fire crews to the North Columbia, wall tents and cooks can be brought in to house them right on base.
The Radio Room provides the essential communication link to the Fire Control Officer in the Fire Centre at Castlegar. As well, crews working on the fireline can call in to request additional resources, receive updated weather forecasts or provide Fire Centre staff with current information on burning conditions. Equally essential to the radio system, this room also houses the computers. Internet based programs now make it possibe to monitor quickly changing weather conditions, plot lightning strikes in real time, provide up-to-the-minute fire updates to Headquarters in Victoria and a host of communication applications for everything from media releases to electronic messages received from aircraft working fires.
The requirement for good communication doesn't stop with the radios and computers. An integral part of our communications are through briefings. The Briefing Room is where the crews can meet for recurrency training in the spring, morning weather briefings or regular safety meetings. All Protection staff are members of a team, and good teamwork starts with keeping everyone informed of the current fire situation, activities and hazards. With the addition of computers and telephones, this area can also serve as extended office space for support personnel or Incident Command staff when required.
The Warehouse is where the fire suppression equipment is stored. Everything needed, from 2,500 gallon water tanks down to a chainsaw sparkplug can be obtained from the warehouse.There's also a workshop area where minor equipment repairs can be done. When demand for equipment begins to deplete the stock on the shelves, an equipment order from one of the Provincial Fire Equipment Depots in Chilliwack or Prince George can have them restocked in a matter of hours. Computers play a big part here as well, with a newly developed electronic ordering and receiving program, tracking of equipment orders can be done with a click of the mouse.
An Initial Attack crewperson's day can be incredibly varied. In the spring there's recurrency training and getting the base and it's facilities fire ready. Fitness training, base maintenance, suppression equipment testing, as well as project work for other programs and agencies are all part of the daily duties. As spring turns to summer, alert schedules are set according to the climbing fire hazard. Alerts range from Blue, one hour response, to Yellow, one half hour response, to Red, requiring an immediate response. Red alert typically comes with the lightning storms of late July and early August. And that's when the crews find themselves waiting in the Ready Room, with a helicopter parked on the pad outside. Our mission statement is, find it fast, hit it hard and attack where the need is greatest. So if the fire hazard is somewhere else, mutual aid aggreements allow for transporting the crews to where they're needed, anywhere in the province, the country or even internationally.
And in the off season, there's still plenty to do!
Please drop by for a visit.
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