
Candle Lake Fire Department receives fire suppression units from Global Medic
With the Shoe fire just 14 kilometres away from the eastern side of Candle Lake and the subdivision of Minowukaw Beach, Candle Lake Emergency Services are now better equipped to deal with some of the hotspots lingering from the massive 408,000 hectare blaze.
On Monday, the Resort Village of Candle Lake received nearly $30,000 worth of equipment from Global Medic, a Canadian charity that offers supports for people dealing with disasters, poverty or conflicts with humanitarian aid. The charity donated four different Skid Units which are small water tanks along with pumps, fuel tanks, and hoses on reels, that get thrown into the back of a pickup truck to deal with small spot fires, and are easily transferable should they need to be moved to another truck.
Candle Lake Fire Chief Jim Arnold was there to welcome the gift to his fire department and said that the plan is to station these four trucks around Candle Lake to have them at the ready should a spot fire flare up.
“What it comes down to is fire throws off brands [embers] that can go for two kilometers and still be able to light a fire. So, our plan is to deploy these skid units throughout the village so that we have an opportunity to take care of fires when they’re small. We’ve strategically placed 12 pumps throughout the village that we can access for quick water. So, we’ll pull water out of the lake we’ll fill these skids and make sure we’re ready to go as well.”