FIELD, B.C. – An ongoing standoff between Parks Canada and a demoralized Field fire department left a seriously injured 63-year-old man trapped inside his crashed semi-trailer for more than two hours waiting to be extricated earlier this week.
Golden-Fire Rescue, located 58 kilometres away from the community of Field, responded to the accident involving two semi-trailers on the Trans-Canada Highway about three kilometres west of Field on Tuesday (Oct. 27).
STARS air ambulance was called immediately and rendezvoused with Banff EMS at Mineral Springs Hospital in Banff.
“STARS-1 transported a male, approximately 63 years old, involved in a motor vehicle collision,” said Tammy Yamkowy, acting communications lead for STARS.
“He was in serious, but stable condition at time of transport to Foothills Medical Centre.”
Tuesday’s drama comes on the heels of an Oct. 4 incident in which a driver whose semi-trailer rolled west of Field was trapped inside his truck for three to three-and-half-hours.
In that case, STARS Air Ambulance, Banff EMS, BC Ambulance and Golden-Field RCMP all responded to the scene of the semi-rollover.
Golden Fire-Rescue – which started getting personal phone calls from RCMP and others – also responded within 90 minutes of the initial call because no one could get the trapped driver out of the semi-trailer.
In Tuesday’s crash, Parks Canada highway crews and wardens attended the scene, along with Golden RCMP, B.C. EMS and Banff EMS. Golden fire department arrived within approximately an hour, and it took roughly another hour to free the injured man.
Parks Canada is legally required to provide road rescue services in Yoho National Park.
Golden Mayor Ron Oszust said a decision was made for Golden Fire-Rescue to attend on Tuesday, but he said the municipality has told Parks Canada that Yoho National Park is outside of Golden Fire-Rescue’s jurisdiction.
“Presently, the Town of Golden is doing humanitarian work, taking on work that is the responsibility of Parks Canada,” said the mayor.
“We are being good neighbours, but that can run thin very quickly. We’re a little municipality, doing the job of a federal agency, and doing that on the back of local community members.”
Oszust said it is unsustainable for Golden Fire-Rescue to keep responding to serious highway accidents in Yoho National Park.
“In the interim, we’ll assess each and every situation to see if it’s appropriate for our crews to respond,” he said.
“We can do this for a while, but it is putting our people at risk.”
For well over a year now, the 16-member volunteer Field Fire and Rescue Department has been negotiating with the federal agency for a stronger department, including a full-time paid fire chief. There have been five fire chiefs in as many years.
The department is dealing with a growing number of emergency calls on the highway with increasing visitation, as well as a greater burden of liability, time demands and administrative requirements to operate a fire department.
In April, the department agreed to extend its contract on a temporary basis until the end of September to give Parks Canada time to resolve the situation. However, the department agreed to provide fire suppression and limited road rescue services only.
Not wanting to turn its back on the community, the fire department continues to provide fire suppression service in Yoho National Park, but is no longer taking calls for vehicle fires or motor vehicle collisions.
- RELATED: Field fire department, Parks Canada reach interim agreement for road rescue on Trans-Canada Highway
Its temporary contract with Parks Canada ends this Saturday (Oct. 31).
Parks Canada contracted Kelowna-based Neilson Strategies to look at the structure and operation of Field’s fire department.
According to a copy of the audit obtained by the Outlook, the consultant came up with four options. Neilson Strategies’ recommendation is to go with a centralized operation support structure overseen by Parks Canada.
Under this option, the consultant says Parks Canada would address Field Fire and Rescue’s need for operational support and oversight by developing its own in-house centralized operational support function.
It would be staffed, to begin with, by one full-time regional fire services operations coordinator with the skills, experience and knowledge necessary to provide the same types of operational support and oversight that Columbia Shuswap Regional District provides to its member departments.
Field Fire and Rescue would deliver, the full set of emergency response services such as structure fires in the Field townsite and throughout Yoho National Park, vehicle and railway fires in the park, motor vehicle accidents, plane crashes in the national park accessible by road, chemical spills, train accidents and campground emergencies.
In addition, Field Fire and Rescue would remain a volunteer fire department headed by a volunteer fire chief who would be paid, as is currently the case, an honorarium and POC rate through the contract with Parks Canada.
“[This option] arguably, could be supported both by Field Fire and Rescue members and Parks Canada,” according to the consultants.
It is understood that Parks Canada supports this option.
The fire department had its annual general meeting on Tuesday night (Oct. 27) to discuss moving forward. Any decisions coming out of the meeting were unknown at press time.
Parks Canada refused to comment on the ongoing situation with the fire department.
“No update at this time with respect to the Field Fire Department,” said Lindsay McPherson, public relations and communications officers for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks.
Field Fire and Rescue is a local non-profit society, which currently has 16 members, including four new recruits. In 2019, the department responded to 57 calls in Yoho, and 33 of those were for road related incidents such as vehicle accidents, or vehicle fires.
The vast majority of calls that Field Fire and Rescue respond to are motor vehicle accidents, including those that involve extrication and vehicle fires.
While Field has a population of 130 people, firefighters also serve millions of visitors to the national park every year, as well as all the traffic travelling on the national transportation corridor through the park, including commercial traffic.
One senior member within the department has resigned due to the ongoing stressful situation with Parks Canada, with reports of the possibility of additional resignations if the situation is not resolved soon.
