Fire Departments on the Sunshine Coast have some new equipment at their disposal.
Thanks to a 110,000 dollar donation from the Sunshine Coast Community Forest, a Structure Protection Unit is in the hands of the Sechelt Fire Department.
Fire Chief Trevor Pike said it is a system of pumps, hoses, temporary water reservoirs and sprinklers that can be used to protect homes in the event of a wildfire.
“We can protect several homes. The numbers are not exact because it all depends on the distances between the homes. In general, we can do between 15 to 25 homes.”
Pike said the equipment was an uncommon one amongst fire departments but the new normal suggests it is something more and more fire departments will need to have at their disposal.
He said members from all the fire departments on the Coast will train on the equipment so it can be deployed to any of the six Sunshine Coast fire departments as part of the existing mutual aid and equipment sharing agreements.
