Christina Lepore is cutting back brush and eliminating other fire hazards around her properties in Zeballos — and crossing her fingers.
If a fire breaks out in the remote village on the northwest Island, the local volunteer fire department won’t be there to answer the call.
The village mayor and council announced late last week it was temporarily suspending firefighting services because the number of volunteers has hit a low and the fire chief position has been vacant for some time.
The number of volunteer fire department members was not released, but locals like Lepore and husband Dan O’Conner, and Port Hardy Fire Chief Brent Borg, say it’s fewer than 10, which doesn’t make the service viable in terms of safety of volunteers or liability for the village.
To effectively fight a structure fire, a department needs about 16 firefighters, Borg said.
Lepore, who owns an apartment building, liquor store, hotel and kayak company in Zeballos, said lack of fire services is a worry for the community, but does not come as a surprise.
She said Zeballos’s population has been shrinking for years — from about 600 residents when forestry and fishing were the main industries to about 110 today who rely largely on tourism.
“We don’t have police, or health care because [the hospital] in Port McNeill is always shutting down and now we don’t have a functioning fire department,” said Lepore. Port McNeill Hospital’s emergency department closed overnight Friday, the second closure in weeks to result from a shortage of nurses.
In a public statement Friday, Mayor Julie Colborne said residents can still call 911 if they see a fire — there is a dispatch system in place — but there will be “no response to a fire callout.”
Colborne said council is recommending that residents check their insurance polices to decide whether they need to report the change to their insurers.
Zeballos council also authorized the village to hire consultants with expertise in local fire services as the council decides its next steps.
The mayor said the village will get advice from legal counsel and the Office of the Fire Commissioner of British Columbia on areas of potential liability to “understand and mitigate these risks.”
The village is asking anyone interested in volunteering for the fire department to come forward.
“We are looking to remedy this and fill the other vacancies in the department,” wrote Colborne. “Please volunteer today and help be part of the solution.”
Anyone interested can go to the fire department hall at 7 on Wednesday evenings and apply to be a member.
The volunteer fire department still plans to do public outreach and support community events, as well as providing fire-prevention information to the community.
The mayor and two councillors did not immediately return calls for comment.
Emergency Management B.C. said in a statement the Office of the Fire Commissioner was notified in early May that the village was struggling to maintain volunteers and meet minimum training requirements. “The OFC is currently working with the local government and Zeballos volunteer firefighters to resolve the situation and maintain public safety for the community of Zeballos and surrounding area,” the statement said.
If there is a wildfire in the area, North Island 911 will dispatch the B.C. Wildfire Service.
Zeballos, a popular fishing and outdoor-recreation area once known for its mining and forestry industries, is 122 kilometres from Port Hardy and nearly 200 kilometres from Campbell River.
Borg, who runs Port Hardy’s volunteer fire brigade of about 30 members, said he’s had discussions with the Zeballos mayor about recruitment, and understands the difficulty for the village.
“It’s tough for them, especially with it being such a small community,” said Borg.
He said because of the distance, it would be hard for Port Hardy to offer immediate response to a fire, saying the most they could do was arrive for a mop-up or to contain a spread.
Borg said part of the success Port Hardy has had in recruitment is “you don’t have to be a front-line firefighter.”
The Port Hardy volunteer department consists of business people, contractors, forestry and wind-farm workers, including a 76-year-old retiree who does maintenance on trucks and other machines, and a Class 1 driver who can drive the fire trucks, he said.
Borg said Port Hardy was in a situation similar to Zeballos a few years ago, but increased its recruiting through social-media channels. “I tell them, we’re the only 30 in town that do what we do, and we should be very proud of what we do.”
Port Hardy answered 269 calls for fires and rescues last year, and saved two homes from destruction over the past several weeks, said Borg.
In Campbell River, where the city has 25 full-time and 50 paid on-call fire department volunteers, Chief Thomas Doherty said recruitment and retention of volunteers is a challenge for departments everywhere.
He said pools of potential recruits have been shrinking because of work commitments and family responsibilities, and the time involved in training. Doherty said recruiting has to start at the high-school level when students are thinking about careers.
For Zeballos, those issues are especially pressing considering its small population base, Doherty said.
There are 166 volunteer fire departments in British Columbia, and Emergency Management B.C. said it is aware of the declining volunteer base. It said volunteer fire departments must meet requirements to safely operate and maintain their fire department, including a minimum number of trained volunteers.
Local governments are responsible for determining what level of fire service will be provided — exterior only, interior or full service.
In 2018, Zeballos was under an evacuation order as a wildfire swept over a mountain overlooking the village. B.C. Wildfire service dropped buckets of water from helicopters and the local fire department soaked forests surrounding homes.
No homes were damaged as the fire burned for weeks, but the stability of the slope was affected and evacuees had to wait several months before returning to their homes.
