Fire crews from Vancouver Island aid in Keremeos Creek wildfire

Crews from 11 fire departments on Vancouver Island have been supporting the BC Wildfire Service in the fight against the Keremeos Creek wildfire. Nine were still on the job as of Wednesday.

The blaze – which was discovered July 29 – has grown to 6,836 hectares in size. The fire is burning in largely rural areas adjacent to a few small communities.

Craig Ford, a platoon leader with the Saanich Fire Department, has been stationed in the area as a task force leader since Aug. 1. He said the days are long, but the work is very rewarding.

“Our role in structure protection is if the wildfire gets close to the structures that’s when we kick into high gear," Ford said in a video call Wednesday morning from what he calls his mobile office.

“Our normal day is a 12-hour day," he added. “But we can easily extend past that should fire behavior conditions require that.”

Ford has close to 30 years of experience fighting fires both professionally and as a volunteer. He said he has lost track of his deployments to wildfires, but thinks it’s around six or seven.

Stationed in the Apex Mountain area, Ford said crews have “set up one of the largest set-ups ever done,” placing some form of protection on every single building in the area thanks to a lot of hard work and “miles and miles of hose.”

“That doesn’t happen without a lot of hard work and long days,” Ford told CTV News. “The crews are feeling it, but there’s still big smiles on their faces.”

Ford said the exceptional care crews are getting from the BC Wildfire Service and the gratitude from the community has helped keep those faces smiling.

“Everybody always waving, honking as we drive by,” Ford said, with a grin on this own face.

“We had people dropping off baked goods to us, cold Gatorades … they are very appreciative.”

Besides the physical work, there’s the emotional challenge of the job as well.

“To put ourselves in their shoes would be very difficult,” said Ford. “You understand this is more than just a home, this is memories and we’re really asking them to drive away from something they built and … a lot of cases in this area, we have a lot of ranches, you know it’s their livelihood.”

“It is tough, but it is also very rewarding when you drive away knowing you had a hand in putting those people back in their homes.”

Ford pointed out the importance of the intangible work crews from the island are doing.

“When they start seeing names like Saanich Fire Department or Metchosin and island departments that have come a long way to support them, they understand we’re leaving our families, our communities to come help them.”

Recognizing the community and relationship building he is part of, the veteran firefighter said he knows the wildfire risk isn’t the same on the island as it is in the Interior or the Okanogan, but that doesn’t mean the island won’t have its own sort of emergency and will “call upon the rest of the province to help us.”

“This is our way of doing our part, and I think the residents really appreciate how much the province comes together when we need to and we’ve been all over this province doing this program,” he said.

Ford says another role island crews play while on deployment fighting wildfires is allowing regional crews to get on with the day-to-day emergencies.

“If we weren’t here trying to help them, we’re really leaving the rest of the their residents at risk," he said.

Ford will finish his 14-day deployment on Aug. 14 and head back to the island to recover pleased to have been involved the task.

“You can appreciate the mass complexity of an event like this," he said. "It’s not one group saving anything. It’s not one branch of government or anything like that. This is a collaboration and I would say it’s one of the best I’ve seen … it’s been a great thing to be apart of.”