Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - With 2025 coming to a close, it seems like a good time to get an update from the Cortes Island Fire Department. Currently, there are about 38 people working out of the island’s two fire halls, with another 20 enrolled in the wildfire brigade.

Chief Eli McKenty noted, "I haven’t totalled this year’s call volume yet, but last year we had 105 calls. This year, we’re likely slightly higher at around 110.”

“We had one significant structure fire, which was fortunately not a total loss. Two factors likely contributed to that. It was a reasonably modern building that was tightly closed.  If you have a tightly sealed building and the doors, windows are closed and you have multi pane windows that don't break from the heat, you can actually have a fire that fully starves of oxygen and goes out. A landscaper working next door noticed the smoke and got a garden hose on it. We were able to mop up the rest.”

“We had one minor fire onboard a boat and a few hydro lines sparked minor brush fires, but nothing significant on that front this year."

In response to a question about the nature of the call-outs, McKenty explained, "They make up the bulk of our call volume. Of our 105 calls last year, 64 were medical first responders, which is similar to what most first responder departments in the province. We had a reasonably high number of motor vehicle incidents this year.”

"We received numerous burning complaints and duty investigations in the summer. It's fairly common for someone to smell smoke for one reason or another, leading to calls for investigation. We even received a call for a suspected lightning strike."

When asked about the extensive training and upgrades the Fire Department has been undergoing, McKenty shared that near the beginning of Mac Diver's term as chief, the province recognized that the existing fire service training model was very challenging for small rural departments to achieve. They established a system with three declared service levels. “Most small rural departments provide exterior operations fire service. We’re not currently allowed to enter a burning building like they would in larger cities such as Vancouver.”

“The next level is interior certification, which is what Quadra Island currently has. It’s half way to full service. They’re allowed to enter simple structures and commercial buildings with a pre-plan in place, but not into high rises.”

Then there is full service. Campbell River is fully staffed with members present at all times, and an additional volunteer crew that steps in as needed.

The Cortes Island Fire Department has traditionally been an exterior operations department. However, in the last two years they have been discussing moving toward interior certification.

“There's not a huge advantage to us going interior on Cortes because response times are longer than they are in the city since we're only two halls and we have a lot of drive time. So there are not too many situations where an interior attack would make the difference in saving a structure, although there have been cases where it would. What really keeps me up at night is we are not currently allowed to go into a building to rescue somebody if the building's on fire. That would be a really nice piece to be certified for.”