A New Westminster fire truck may be the first step in establishing stronger ties with the Tl’etinqox First Nation.
Rather than disposing of a 15-year-old fire truck at auction, the City of New Westminster agreed to donate the vehicle that was being taken out of service to the Tl’etinqox First Nation. A day after the vehicle was delivered to the Anaham reserve in July, it was called into action.
“The fire came over the mountain and started heading straight for the reservation,” said Coun. Chuck Puchmayr, who accompanied the fire truck on its voyage to Anaham. “We just got the fire truck hooked up in time and were able to put out a couple of spot fires along the road. The fire burned all the way up to a fire guard that they made and then it was diverted. The wind took it downriver. The fire truck was a real asset to them.”
Puchmayr believes Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse’s decision not to evacuate the reserve resulted in additional firefighting resources being deployed to the community. Some Anaham residents temporarily relocated to a neighbouring community but didn’t evacuate as ordered by the province.
“There is really nothing left to burn on that route,” he told the Record Aug. 15. “It was almost 140,000 square hectares of forest gone all along that route. There’s really not much left that can be a threat to them. Things have settled down. It was quite a victory for them.”
While the Anaham community was “thrilled” to receive a fire truck from the City of New Westminster, Puchmayr believes it’s only the beginning of opportunities between the two communities, which are discussing the possibility of establishing a sister city relationship.
“Chief Alphonse is in favour of becoming a sister city, a formal relationship with us. We talked about it while I was up there. He is quite excited about that. He thinks it would be a really strong direction towards reconciliation, rather than just talk about it, to actually do something,” he said. “I really think that this relationship would be one that would really show there are communities out there that really want to reach out, and not just talk and apologize, but do. This will be a really good start in that direction. I am really pleased that all of us on council and the mayor are really excited about the potential of this type of initiative.”
Puchmayr said the federal government has talked about improving fire services for First Nations communities, so the truck will continue to be a valuable asset in Anaham.
“Chief Alphonse tells me they are going to now build a fire hall for the fire truck and train up a fire crew. I am thinking New Westminster could play a role in training up a fire crew,” he said. “It would be great to have us go up there and train a fire crew and also on the EOC (emergency operations centre) end of it there is real need to brush up on their EOC program. We have got one of the best in the Lower Mainland, in my opinion, and it would be great to go up there and customize one for their area as well.”
Although the 15-year-old fire truck isn’t suitable for use in New West because of the amount of use it gets in the city, Puchmayr said it’s still a valuable asset to a smaller community where it’s used less often. In the past, the community has had to rent a fire truck when holding powwows and other events on their land in remote areas.
