A 1988 Mack fire truck retired by the Esquimalt Fire Department would ordinarily be put up for auction, but Chief Steve Serbic has instead donated the sturdy vehicle to the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of B.C.
The fire truck is now at the society’s North Vancouver centre, which serves as a base for training programs in a number of First Nations communities. The society also has a centre in Kamloops.
Serbic said the fire truck was in use in Esquimalt from 1988 until a few years ago, when policy dictated it should be replaced.
“So what happens after 20 to 25 years, depending on the truck, there’s a replacement reserve [fund] and it gets rotated out,” he said.
After the truck had had its day, it was decided to keep it around for urban search-and-rescue training at a facility shared with CFB Esquimalt.
Serbic said Mack trucks from that era are “bullet-proof.” “They have very little electronics, they’re very simple to use, they rarely break down — they’re almost like the Harley-Davidsons of fire trucks.”
The chief said the Esquimalt department already had a relationship with the First Nations’ Emergency Services Society. It hosted a First Nations firefighter competition in 2017 and will be hosting again this year.
“We invite all the communities from B.C. and we bring in some career firefighters,” he said. “They have a competition and we show them what we do.”
All of the First Nations firefighters are volunteers and benefit by learning new skills, Serbic said.
He said the donated Mack truck will travel around — sometimes to communities that don’t have fire trucks of their own — with staff that gives instruction on things like using pumps and hose lines.
Those skills can be put to use in emergencies like wildfires, Serbic said. “This truck will really be used as a training resource,” he said. “It will be used mostly in remote communities where they have no hands-on skills with fire trucks.”
He said he worked with First Nations groups in 2017 and 2018, travelling across the province and seeing the need for training.
Serbic said he was happy the society wanted the truck and could put it to good use.
He figured it might have gone for only about $2,000 at auction.
Despite that, he said it will likely keep going for another 10 to 15 years. “It’s in amazing shape.”
Dean Colthorp, fire-services manager for the society, said the truck is “a great addition.”
“It’s the first time we’ve ever had a fire truck in our existence, which is since 1986,” he said. “We’ve always gone to communities to use their trucks and whatnot.”
Having a truck of its own combined with trucks in communities can enhance the society’s training capability, Colthorp said.
“You get way more experience with two pieces of apparatus.”
The truck could end up travelling to communities on Vancouver Island and in the Interior, he said.
“We’ll be spending some time in locations, so you’ll be see the truck there for maybe two or three weeks, so we can hit several communities at one time,” Serbic said. “It just fits right into our training schedule.”
