Behind The Fire: Inside the local Fire Centre

The Lac La Biche Fire Centre on Beaver Hill Road might look like just another building from the outside, but inside, it’ s a different story.

One long, low building backing onto an equipment and storage yard, it might not resemble what you see in your mind’ s eye when you picture the region’ s wildland firefighting hub.

It’ s a side to the firefighting story that’ s not seen as often. Here, officers, dispatchers and coordinators complete the roles of fighting fires from their desks, through radios and computers. The ground crews, the aircraft pilots, the equipment operators-they’ re all managed and directed from here. This is the nerve centre, the brain of provincial firefighting in the Lac La Biche area.

It was a quiet day when the POST visited for a tour of the facility, but the Fire Centre has seen its share of hectic days this year. As of press time, there had been over 200 wildfires in the Lac La Biche Forest Protection Area (FPA) since the start of fire season on March 1.

The response to a reported wildfire begins in the dispatch room. Located in the centre of the building, it’ s where information is received and relayed to those who need it.

“This is the heart of the Fire Centre,” said Leslie Lozinski, information officer for the Lac La Biche FPA.

From this room, four dispatchers, a duty officer and a deputy duty officer first send and then track crews and resources as they respond to different incidents. On one wall, a chart lists ongoing wildfires. There were only 10, all under control, when the POST visited, but Lozinski says the chart was filled in to the bottom line not that long ago.

On busy days, the dispatch room takes on something of a beehive aspect, with staffers sometimes communicating with multiple people simultaneously.

“It’ s definitely not a place for timid people and you have to have a capacity for multitasking extraordinaire,” Lozinski said.

After crews have arrived at the scene of a wildfire, the incident commander tells the logistics department what’ s needed. Logistics personnel see to “millions of small details,” ranging from transportation to on-site accommodations and meal arrangements. They also forward equipment requests to the warehouse.

The department’ s main challenge lies in responding to changing situations. Firefighting, especially wildland firefighting, is mobile: crews and resources move around-and logistics staffers have to keep up with them.

“It’ s very proactive and reactive at the same time,” said Lozinski.

The warehouse contains all of the equipment that is used in firefighting operations. Row on row of shelves hold everything from pulaskis, double-headed tools that can be used as axes or diggers, to Wajax bags, which are like backpacks with attached hoses and handheld nozzles that can be filled with water.

Both pulaskis and Wajax bags are essential to making sure a large fire has been fully extinguished, Lozinski says.

“At the end of a fire, it’ s just backbreaking labour with the pulaskis and the shovels and the Wajax bags, getting into all of the hot spots,” she said.

Fire hose, coveralls and other personal protective equipment are the items the warehouse sends out most frequently, as well as pumps for taking water from lakes and rivers near the site of the fire.

After the equipment is returned, a separate facility near the Fire Centre handles hose cleaning, while a local company looks after cleaning coveralls.

At the far end of the building, past the dispatch room and the warehouse, is where contracting and administration happens. The employees in this part of the Fire Centre are responsible for managing seasonal staff members like firefighters and dispatchers, as well as overseeing equipment contracts for things like bulldozer groups and water trucks.

“They make the wheels go round,” said Lozinski.

In the entire Lac La Biche FPA, there are approximately 125 contracted staff members and around 150 different equipment contracts. When fire season is just beginning and recruitment is underway is when the department is at its busiest.

“This place in the spring...the contract paperwork is feet deep,” Lozinski said.