Fire Department

We provide commercial, residential and wild land fire suppression services to the municipal residents of the Town of Creston, Erickson in RDCK Area B and RDCK Area C properties along Highway 21 and north of Highway 3 junction. When applying for fire insurance, please check with us to find out if you have fire protection coverage. Many of our fire fighters are trained and certified to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications – Level II. All our fire fighters are trained using this standard to work them towards certification over a period of several years.

The Fire Prevention Program has two main facets; educational programs and fire inspections of public and commercial buildings.

Regular fire inspections of commercial and public buildings in the Town of Creston are performed to ensure building owners are compliant with the BC Fire Code in maintaining fire and life safety features for visitors and residents who utilize the facility. As local assistants to the Office of the Fire Commissioner, we enforce the BC Fire Code, Fire Services Act and applicable fire service related Town of Creston By-laws.

Educational programs are booked through the Fire Department to provide fire and life safety information being taught to various organizations and local schools. Topics are designed to focus on the specific target group to ensure the maximization of fire prevention and education messages.  Throughout the year we also provide fire station tours for school classes and pre-school children. 

We have certified NFPA Fire and Life Safety Educators within the department who utilize the provincial Getting to Know Fire program in presenting many of the educational topics.

Auto Extracation

Heavier summer traffic and quickly changing weather conditions in the winter make motor vehicle accidents a harsh reality in the region.

Auto Extrication has, over the past few decades, become a very specialized field. With an increased use of light weight vehicle components, airbags, computer controlled security and fuel systems; it has become even more important that fire fighters stay aware of changes in both vehicle designs and in extrication techniques.

Tools such as the "Jaws of Life" (often called "spreaders" or "jaws"), airbags for lifting, and other air and hydraulic tools have greatly improved the fire fighter's ability to gain access to trapped victims quickly so as to save lives and reduce the impact of the injuries sustained.

We provide highway rescue services within the municipal boundaries, south on Highway 21 to the United States border, east of Creston on Highway 3 to Irishman’s Creek (approximately 50 km), west of Creston on Highway 3 to the top of the summit of the Salmo Creston (approximately 50 km) and north of Creston on Highway 3A to Akokli Creek (approximately 40 km).

Technical Rope Rescue 

In an expanding role, firefighters are becoming expected to perform and provide a range of rescue services. Technical rope rescue response is usually combined with highway rescue responses when vehicles have gone down steep embankments.  Fire fighters are also being called upon more frequently to respond to rope rescue incidents where people have found themselves in situations where rescue is required.

Technical rope rescue consists of low and high angle rescues from simple rope systems to complex ones, depending on the incident presented to the fire fighters upon arrival.  Firefighters spend time on week-ends throughout the year to improve and better themselves with the challenges presented when performing rope rescue.

With highway truck traffic and a railway in the centre of our town, the prospect of a hazardous materials incident is a dangerous reality. Creston Fire Rescue fire fighters are trained to an NFPA 472 – Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents – Operations Level.

This level of training of our personnel means our primary goal is to respond in a defensive manner; identify the hazardous situation and implement initial defensive actions to protect people, the environment and property.

Fire reporting is a legislated requirement within British Columbia and the Office of the Fire Commissioner maintains an electronic Fire Loss Reporting System that records all BC fire loss statistics.  Information collected yearly assists in areas such as public education planning, Building and Fire Code changes and identifying trends in fire loss.

With appointed Local Assistants to the Fire Commissioner, we provide fire investigation reporting to the province of British Columbia as required by the Fire Services Act.  

Although many fire causes can not be definitively determined, there are still opportunities to provide the public with timely information about the fire and public education messages to prevent future fires.  Although the information is collected provincially, local data is available to the department to determine developing trends locally or within the region.

We receive and dispatch emergency calls 24 hours a day through 911. This service is provided through the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary with the fire dispatch located in Prince George, BC.

The Town of Creston Town Hall and Fire Department issue burning permits for backyard burning. Because backyard burning is restricted through municipal bylaws, Fire Department personnel are called upon to provide enforcement and answer concerns posed by residents regarding open burning.

Fire fighters are trained for medical response using First Responder training, and are licensed through the province to provide basic medical treatment to the residents within Creston, Erickson, and Arrow Creek.