Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship says it continues to work with area cottage owners and the City of Flin Flon in hopes of securing a fire service agreement.
Cottage subdivisions near Flin Flon have been without year-round fire protection since July 1, 2013, when the city revoked the service after failing to reach a funding agreement with
cottagers.
Conservation and Water Stewardship is again clarifying its limited role in dealing with cottage fires. A spokesman told The Reminder the following:
• Seasonal wildland firefighters will respond to structural fires in cottage areas, but only when available and only to limit the spread of the flames to adjacent buildings and forest.
• These firefighters are not trained in structural fire suppression and will not enter a building or undertake any other activity for which they haven’t been trained.
• Response times would vary depending on the time of day and year as well as fire alert levels. Firefighters could, depending on alert levels, arrive from Cranberry Portage, Sherridon, The Pas or Wekusko Falls Provincial Park near
Snow Lake.
• Firefighting crews are currently in place in each of those four locations, but only for a few months. In general, wildland firefighters are only hired from mid-May to early September.
• All cottages near Flin Flon are within Conservation’s priority firefighting zone, so firefighters would respond utilizing whatever equipment is available at the time. If there was a report of smoke within the area, Conservation would dispatch its skimmer group and a helicopter with crew to the location.
• The firefighters have a variety of tools at their disposal, including water bombers, pumps and hoses, and hand tools to suppress a fire adjacent to a building to prevent it from spreading. Depending on the location, a water tank may be deployed if required.
• If a fire is road accessible, crews would drive to the location with equipment in a vehicle (potentially with a tank wagon) but would still rely on aircraft in most circumstances.
• In the event of a fire, Conservation has advised cottagers to call its 24-hour toll-free tip line at 1-800-782-0076 (though this number was not operational yesterday afternoon).
