Cabin owners’ associations are taking the next step toward providing their own fire suppression services.
For most of the past five years, cabin subdivisions at Schist Lake, Big Island, Bakers Narrows and other areas have not had a service agreement in place with the City of Flin Flon. Until mid-2013, the Flin Flon Fire Department responded to cottage fires. After cottagers and the city could not reach consensus on funding, the service was revoked.
Since then, Manitoba Sustainable Development has provided firefighting services for the area. However, response times by outside firefighting services can be long for areas further away from Flin Flon. With only some help coming from the city or associated fire personnel, cabin owners have begun to expand their own fire fighting operations.
Schist Lake formed a fire committee in the spring of 2017, months after a cabin burned to cinders in the area. After substantial local interest, Schist Lake/Big Island Cottage Owners Association president John Clark helped find supplies residents could use in case of an emergency. The equipment was purchased with cabin owners’ annual membership dues.
“We’ve always had some pumps in our association, out at Schist Lake, prior to that understanding coming to a close,” said Clark, referring to the agreements between cabin areas and the City of Flin Flon.
There are now four caches of fire suppressing supplies in the Schist Lake/Big Island area, including a trailer containing pumps and fire equipment that can be taken wherever there is a fire.
“We’ve got pumps, we’ve got fuel, we’ve got fire hoses, intake hoses for the pumps and some miscellaneous equipment – in one case, there’s a chainsaw, in some cases we have a sleigh for moving pumps in the winter, that sort of thing,” said Clark.
Clark is adamant that the fire committee is not the same as a full fire department.
“The mandate of the committee is not to go into a house and fight a fire. It is to ensure the fire does not spread to another property or into the forest. That’s really our intent,” he said.
“We’re not firefighters, we just want to make sure people have access to firefighting equipment if they need it and that it’s operational. The idea is so people can know that there is a fire and so people can mobilize to help out and get the equipment to that fire – not to go in and fight the fire, but to contain it.”
Last fall, the Little Athapap Cottage Owners Association (LACOA) elected to not pursue 911 phone services for fire service at Lake Athapapuskow, choosing instead to start their own fire committee, much like Schist Lake. Cabin owners can still access police and ambulance services.
One resident at Bakers Narrows has built a fire response trailer, consisting of water tanks and spraying equipment, which can be pulled to wherever it is required. Multiple residents of both areas have purchased pumps that can be used to fight fires. Others, including Clark, have looked into value protection packages, similar to those used by provincial fire authorities during wildfires.
“People in our area are responding to various degrees – I’m putting one up on my property,” said Clark.
At least one public information session was held at both Schist Lake and Bakers Narrows, teaching residents how to use water pumps and hoses in case of emergency.
“I think we had about 70 people attend those sessions [at Schist Lake],” said Clark
Over the past year, 25 people have joined the fire committee and dozens of Bakers Narrows residents have supplied their phone numbers and contact information for a fire warning system.
At Schist Lake, warnings are sent out via a call repeater system – a similar system to what the Bakers Narrows committee hopes to install.
“What we have now is every resident has the phone number for the system. If they see a fire, they call the number and report the location of the fire and they hang up. That call goes to everybody in the association within about 30 seconds so everybody knows,” said Clark.
“It’s a recorded message that goes to everybody right away to either pick up equipment or have some kind of involvement.”
According to Clark, there has not been a reported fire at Schist Lake in the past year. Bakers Narrows has had two reported fires this summer – one at a geotechnical site on the west shore of Lake Athapapuskow and a second near the site of Bakers Narrows Lodge. The first fire was partially contained by Bakers Narrows residents, using the fire trailer, before Manitoba Sustainable Development extinguished the blaze. For the second fire, which was caused by a downed power line, the fire trailer and pumps were used to fully extinguish the flames.
The Bakers Narrows committee received some help from the LACOA during their annual fall meeting on Aug. 5, with the association approving a motion that would fund up to 50 per cent of the cost for ABC fire extinguishers for committee members, up to $1,000. The extinguishers can cost up to $132 a piece for 10-pound units, but may be more affordable if bought in bulk.
To raise money for the extinguishers, one resident proposed holding a community garage sale.
