Photo: Four of the fire skids assembled in Warman and distributed across Saskatchewan sit on a flatbed trailer / submitted
By Kevin Berger
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Clark’s Crossing Gazette
Warman has been serving as the central hub in a larger operation spearheaded by the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs (SAFC) and a non-profit organization called GlobalMedic to distribute “fire skids” that can be fitted on the back of a pick-up truck to fire departments across the province.
Joanne Austin, Executive Director of the SAFC, said these units feature 1,000-litre tanks and they can be used to effectively turn regular flatbed trucks into a responding unit.
While they obviously can’t haul as much water as a regular fire truck, there have been a lot of situations, especially in an extremely tumultous wildfire season like this year, where there may be small fires in areas a regular fire truck can’t reach in time.
“You can put (the fire skid) on a trailer, you can put it on a half-ton, and hop in that truck. And you just need one person to run it,” Austin said.
“That 15-minute leeway can mean the difference between a full-blown fire or taking care of the situation before it even becomes an issue.”
As well, some fires are in areas with particularly rough terrain that simply can’t be accessed by a large fire truck.
“You can put this skid on a three-quarter ton or a half-ton 4×4, and off you go. You have access to some of these hard-to-reach places,” she said.
As mentioned earlier, the SAFC is working on distributing fire skids in partnership with GlobalMedic, which is also known as The David McAntony Gibson Foundation.
According to their website, GlobalMedic provides humanitarian aid to people affected by poverty, disaster or conflict. In addition to supplying these fire skids to Saskatchewan departments, they have been doing the same across Canada.
Austin said she had not heard of GlobalMedic prior to meeting with a representative at a conference in Alberta. However, “within two days of making contact with them, we had seven skids on the ground for the wildfires up north,” she said.
Austin noted that the SAFC formed a committee to oversee the distribution of these fire skids, and they decided the best way to do so was through an application process.
Forms were sent out to fire departments across the province and also published on the SAFC’s website and Facebook page. Successful applicants were based foremost on need; Austin said there are many communities “struggling for the most minute piece of equipment.”
GlobalMedic handled all of the financing for the fire skids; the only monetary requirement placed on the applicants was to purchase a membership in the SAFC, which advocates on behalf of all fire departments in the province.
“But there’s no other cost involved at all. All the expense is GlobalMedic’s,” she said.
While the components of the skids are assembled elsewhere – some of the work is done by a company in Alberta — the actual skids are put together at the Warman Fire Hall with the help of GlobalMedic representatives and volunteers, including some local firefighters.
“Their need to give doesn’t stop at the end of the day. They just keep on giving,” she said.
Austin said it takes two to three hours to assemble upswards of 16 skids, and once that is done, they are ready to roll.
In one instance, Austin said they put together four skids to help out with the wildfire at Sucker River, and they were in use within a matter of hours of being picked up by Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management.
“Their communities were on fire, and they were losing structures as we were speaking,” she said.
“We drove up to Prince Albert, they picked up four skids, and they were sending us pictures six hours later.”
Austin said GlobalMedic dedicated 100 fire skids for distribution in Saskatchewan, and as of August 26, they had given out 74 to various departments.
“It’s been a very, very busy last few months,” she said.