The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A summer full of wet, unseasonably cool weather has been bad news for nearly everyone other than the spirited young men and women who fight fire. They no doubt enjoy a warm day as much anyone else would, but with those warm days comes the chance of lightning and with lightning, there is almost always fire! When fire erupts, they react. As of this writing, in the 2009 fire season the northwest region of the province has witnessed 41 fires. Of those, 31 were caused by lightning, and 10 were deemed to be caused by humans. In total, these fires burned close to 210 hectares of forest. The two largest fires in the region to date, consumed a total of 46 hectares; 23 each. Those fires were # 38, south of Grand Rapids, and fire 9 near Iskwasum Campground. The good news is that as of this writing, there were no fires burning in the region. Bryan Stefaniuk, who is Conservation Manitoba's District Supervisor for the Snow Lake District, advises that the Wekusko fire base has four Initial Attack Crews (each crew has five members) and two Helitac Officers at the ready. Wekusko is one of three Helitac Bases in the Province. The others are situated at Bissett and Paint Lake. A contract helicopter (Bell 205) with a pilot and engineer is also positioned at Wekusko for the summer months. Stefaniuk notes that in order for the Wekusko Base to be functional, a number of support staff are also required. "We have a kitchen facility staffed by three cooks," he explained. "Grounds maintenance is handled by one labourer/operator and one Green Team person. We have one District Fire Ranger in charge of equipment caches/inventories, and we have one radio operator in town for communication support. This does not include the NROs, or regular time clerk." The northwest region of Manitoba encompasses the area from the Churchill River in the north, the Saskatchewan border in the west, the Easterville road to the south, and Lake Winnipeg/Ponton to the east. "The Snow Lake Fire Base provides regional coverage and is not limited to just the Snow Lake area," said Stefaniuk. See 'Crews' on pg. Continued from pg. Regardless, whether there are fires in the area or not, the supervisor says that crews always keep themselves busy and in fire fighting shape. "Our staff is quite self motivated in terms of staying physically fit," noted Stefaniuk. "People may notice them out jogging or in the gym, working out on their own time. It is not a stretch to find someone in the gym at 6:00 a.m." Each Initial Attack crew member is required to pass a standard Fire Program Physical Fitness test (which Stefaniuk states is not an easy test to pass), before they are even offered employment. "They are also required to pass an arduous pack test in order to be exported out of Manitoba should the need arise," he added. "Due to the physical nature of the job, we allocate one hour a day for fitness. A variety of activities are involved." Of these, team sports such as the basketball game pictured above are intended to sustain good physical conditioning and build on a TEAM concept. The Wekusko Base Ð or Tac Camp, as it is referred to locally Ð has a fairly good gym with some recent purchases of weight training equipment and exercise machines. Stefaniuk says that this provides for a variety of physical activities. In conclusion he states, "People may have also noticed that we have two female crew members this year. They are required to pass the same tests as the male crew members and in many cases they surpass their counterparts. The girls are excellent workers. They are a pretty good crew in all." Just as an update on a previous item that I reported on. The dedication of the Richard 'Dick' Woosey memorial stone will take place at lot 3, plot 4, block 8, section B at Lakeside Cemetery, in The Pas at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 31. As well, the dedication of the Kathleen 'Kate' Rice memorial stone will take place at plot 3, block 58 of the Minnedosa Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August . My Take on Snow Lake runs Fridays.
