Firefighters with the Tofino Fire Society took a wildland fire refresher earlier this month.
Firefighters reaquainted themselves with the wildfire tools such as pumps, hoses, sprinklers and more.
The training came from one of their own, who has experience fighting wildfires, Chief Mark McKeough said. "Timber" Tim Oh, a 10-year veteran with Tofino VFD, has been employed for the past three or four years with B.C. Wildfire Service. "He's leaving in May to his posting (in Pemberton, B.C.) for the summer," McKeough said.
Some may think with the west coast being primarily in the rainforest, wildfire training would be a waste. Not so, says McKeough. "It's a growing program for us. Being on the west coast historically has been very wet but that's not the case anymore."
Every firefighter with the department has done the wildland program in the past year, training to fight wildland interface fires that cross over between forested and urban areas.
The Tofino Fire Society has also been busy fundraising for a new training facility as well as contributing to the annual scholarship they sponsor for graduating students at Ucluelet Secondary School on the west coast, McKeough said.
