A Wabana fire truck caught fire while crews responded to a brush fire call. (Submitted by Jordan Blackwood)
Amid Newfoundland and Labrador’s fire ban, the city of Wabana has already grounded a fire truck after a pump caught fire this weekend on Bell Island.
“Our fire truck accidentally ended up in the brush and the fire got under our truck and caught fire in our exhaust system,” said Mayor Gary Gossin.
The city bought the pump from another municipality a few years ago. Without it, they are now stripped of one of their key firefighting facilities.
“We responded to eight or 10 fires. And from the community, we had over 40 phone calls in two days,” Gossin said.
Gozin said that volume is unusual for the local fire department. Although it can usually answer several calls at once, it depends on having a full set of resources.
Wabana Mayor Gary Gossin says a weekend fire that ended up setting a truck on fire may have been vandalism. (Submitted by Jordan Blackwood)
Fire services in Newfoundland and Labrador were kept on high alert during the recent hot weather. As two large wildfires burn out of control in central Newfoundland, smaller fires are breaking out elsewhere, sometimes sparked by sparks from things like backyard fires.
Gossin said he doesn’t believe all of the Wabana fires are natural.
“Everybody tells me it probably started from a pebble and the sun hit a pebble which reacted and started a fire,” he said.
“I don’t seem to think so – I just think it’s vandalism. Because there are too many fires.”
He said the fires put crews at risk.
“They are all trained firefighters, but someone could easily fall into a trap. And that’s what I’m really afraid of,” he said.
Gossin said he has talked to other cities that may want to help.
One of Wabana’s main fire facilities has burned down after catching fire over the weekend. (Submitted by Jordan Blackwood)
“We will accept any help we can get from any city to get our firefighting equipment back to status quo.”
Goisine said the likely scenario would involve getting an old pump from another community.
He said losing a truck like this in a small community can be “life and death” and he hopes to get another one quickly.
“We just have to wait. That’s all we can do.”
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
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