Fire Chief Rick Jackson is not anticipating any problems in the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department re-qualifying for their Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) ratings.

At their June 6 meeting at Fire Hall #1, Jackson told the Gabriola Fire Protection Improvement District (GFPID) board that their rating “is up for re-testing in the near future”, and that he was looking forward to the procedure.

Acknowledging that the test had been difficult to pass the last time the department took it, Jackson noted “we’ve got a bigger tanker now”. He said thanks to the new tanker they now have “an extra seven minutes of water flow”. He said those extra minutes meant the department should be able to pass the test “comfortably”.

As previously reported, the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department has achieved Superior Shuttle Tanker Status. This means that they are able to deliver enough water to a fire to qualify Gabriolan homeowners for a discount in their insurance.

Asked whether the FUS has allowed the use of foam as a way of lowering the amount of water needed to put out house fires, Jackson said there has been no word. However, he said, the FUS has also not increased the requirements on the amount of water the department is expected to deliver. He said there had been some concern that they would.

If the FUS did raise the amount of water required, Jackson added that the best solution would be to “get another big tanker” to meet that quota. “In the big picture”, Jackson said, “the savings to this island would be such that it would be worth it”.

However, he reiterated that he had no concerns about passing the accreditation.

In other fire department news, Jackson also noted that firefighters Will Sprogis and Jethro Baker hold the Captain/ Training Officer positions “and they’re doing a very good job of over-viewing the whole thing. Morale’s pretty high”.  He said the positions are paid by the hour.

Jackson also noted that two new volunteer firefighters joined the department last month, two more are scheduled to start soon, and a fifth application had recently been given out. He thought recent discussions about the fire department have “woken people up”.