Strathmore firefighters get ready for wildfire season

This week you might have seen local firefighters rolling through town, it’s not always because of a fire, sometimes it’s because the Strathmore Fire Department is in training, getting prepared for wildfire season.

With the prairie terrain that surrounds the community of Strathmore, at this time of year that’s when wildfire and sometimes grassfires start to be seen.

Strathmore Fire Department Chief Dave Sturgeon explained what fire crews are doing to get ready.

“Every spring we do a refresh and training on our wildfire deployment. Down in the South we don't have obviously a huge amount of treed areas like up North, but we still have grass and prairie fires, and spring is generally the time when we'll get tons of grass burning calls,” he said.

Local firefighters complete theory in a classroom setting and hands-on training as well.

“We talk about the safety and all the different aspects and how fire behavior works, then we go outside. We have one truck that called a bush buggy and that's basically dedicated to the off-road grassland, and that is equipped with water and a pump and will fight fires,” he explained.

In addition the fire department uses a water tender that holds large amounts of water, that gives firefighters the ability to drop large amounts of water wherever they may need.

“We have the ability to drop the water in portable tanks and do pumping off of there,” said Sturgeon. Plus the department has four kits that include sprinklers that can be used during grassfires at the edge of town.

Sturgeon says, “There's eight sprinklers per kit, so we could deploy those sprinklers basically to do a protection line for the town or a subdivision or house, whatever it may be.”

This type of fire training is key at this time of year as prairie fires are fast-moving.

“You want to be as prepared as possible to try and deploy the tactics so that you can slow it down or divert it or stop it if you can,” said the fire chief.

In addition, later during the month of April the fire department will be conducting live fire training controlled burns as part of their regular training. This will give local firefighters the chance to have hands-on experience in a controlled environment to practivce their skills and improve. The community will be advised of the exercises at the appropriate time.

Sturgeon explained that if residents have any fire related questions they are free to reach out to the local fire department.