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Whether we like it or not, the cold weather is back.
But it’s nothing Regina fire crews aren’t prepared for.
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“Fortunately we have lots of history to go on,” Deputy Chief Gord Hewitt of Regina Fire and Protective Services (RFPS) said in an interview. He explained winter conditions affect not just fighting fires, but getting to them and other scenes.
“Having professionally-trained driver-operators is critical for us,” Hewitt said. “With icy conditions, blizzards, our drivers need to be extra cautious when responding.”
He added that also means sharing the road with other drivers who may be less prepared.
RFPS sends two trucks to a collision response, staging the second vehicle to protect the responders and other people at the scene.
When battling fires in cold weather, Hewitt said crews have to take steps to prevent hoses from freezing up.
“Making sure that we’re implementing our cold weather strategy, we keep water flowing so it doesn’t freeze up in our hoses so that we can continue to operate.”
Keeping the firefighters warm is another story.
“When you’re fighting a fire in cold weather, you need strong incident command present,” Hewitt explained, “rotating crews, making sure that they’re operating safely.
“We also have an operational support unit that we’ll send out so crews can be rotated to warm up. We try to keep a fairly good rotation for crews so they can continue to stay warm.”
Crews bring a second set of gear, so they can change if their first gear becomes wet and freezes, which can happen in extreme temperatures.
Fire crews are also mindful of people being displaced into the cold weather during a fire. Hewitt said RFPS has partnerships with agencies that can house fire evacuees, and will sometimes bring in a transit bus as a temporary shelter.
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