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Written by MrVH
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Thursday, 25 October 2007 15:42 |
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The Lillooet Volunteer Fire Brigade was established in the early 1900s; its early equipment consisted of a hose reel on wheels which was pushed or pulled by hand. Established as a small volunteer group, it has now proudly grown to a Paid-on-Call department. What is a Paid-on-Call department? Under the paid-on-call system, when the fire department is summoned, the men and women of our community leave their regular jobs and assume their roles as firefighters to assist the person(s) who require emergency assistance. There are no career or full-time members in the department. Lillooet’s Fire History Lillooet has had its share of devastating fires, including a blaze in 1948 that destroyed much of the downtown core; a lightning strike on the Esso bulk plant that threatened the south end of Main Street in 1960; and a disastrous forest fire in 1971 that flattened a neighbourhood in T’it’q’et and wiped out homes and businesses in Conwayville. In 2004, forest fires in the Town Creek and Dickey Creek watersheds merged, forcing the community onto evacuation alert status. That same summer, a raging forest fire on the slopes above Seton Lake also menaced the town. Quick action by the Lillooet Fire Department and Ministry of Forests fire crews and aircraft in the summer of 2007 prevented a forest fire on Honeyman Hill from spreading southwards towards the town centre.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 26 October 2008 23:19 )
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