Oct. 9 was a particularly bad Monday for one driver coming off the ferry.
Around 1 a.m. that day, Gibsons & District Volunteer Fire Department was called to the Langdale terminal after a vehicle flipped disembarking one of the last ferries of the day, according to the department's quarterly report.
Fire chief Rob Michael told Coast Reporter the driver may have been inattentive or distracted as they rounded the corner, and landed upside down on the pavement. There were only minor injuries, and the fire department did not need to extract anyone from the vehicle. No other vehicles were involved. The fire department checked on their patient, made sure the scene was safe and the car stabilized.
The incident was just one of a few noteworthy events Michael included in his last quarterly report for 2023 to Gibsons council. The last three months of the year also saw the Gibsons fire department tackle a fire in a home-built sauna, an electric scooter fire, and a significant structure fire in the Bonniebrook area, Michael told Gibsons council at a committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 6.
Between October and December, the Gibsons & District Volunteer Fire Department (GDVFD) responded to 69 calls for service. More than 10 of those calls — the leading incident type — were related to wires. This is a decrease compared to the same period the year before, which saw 121 calls. In total, GDVFD saw 326 callouts in 2023. The report noted this is a slight dip in demand, but part of a trend of increasing service needs over the last decade.
A roof leak at the main fire hall was discovered late in the year. While a roofing contractor was secured to provide a temporary patch on short notice, a complete roof replacement “may need to take place sooner than later,” Michael told the committee.
At the time of the report, there were 44 firefighters in the Gibsons department, and a recruitment drive expected to add six members in the new year. During his presentation, Michael said there are currently 50 members, including five new members. In the fourth quarter, firefighters trained for 846 person-hours with a focus on vehicle rescue, rapid intervention and interior firefighting training, the report states.
The report also highlighted the department’s struggle to keep up with fire and life safety inspections for the nearly 400 public buildings that require them. In the fourth quarter, the fire prevention team completed 10 fire safety inspections, 16 referrals and three Office of the Fire Commissioner fire investigations
Other initiatives the fire department completed in the final months of 2023 include an egg drop science experiment with students, and helping raise a record amount of $39,315 ($16,720 from the GDVFD department alone) for Elves’ Club’s Crash the Coast fundraiser.
