News Flash

COQUITLAM, B.C., May 10, 2021 – On Thursday, May 13, Coquitlam Fire/Rescue (CFR) will conduct a fire exercise on Eagle Mountain involving smoke, loud noises, a helicopter and emergency vehicles. The multi-agency exercise is weather dependent and focused on wildland interface fires (fires in natural areas next to urban development). 

Traffic and Resident Impact

• Eagle Mountain Park and area trails will be closed to the public on Thursday, May 13 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 
• Due to the smoke and emergency response vehicles involved, the exercise may appear to the public to be a real fire response. 
• To inform area residents and passersby of the exercise:
  1. Signs will be installed on nearby streets and at park and trail entrances on the day of the exercise.
  2. The City will post information about the exercise on social media.
  3. On Tuesday, May 11 from 8:30 a.m. to noon, CFR teams will go door-to-door visiting approximately 300 homes in the area to inform them of the exercise and simulate an Evacuation Alert, as well as provide fire safety educational information about living adjacent to the forest, in an urban wildland interface area. 

Exercise Highlights

• Nine organizations are participating in the the multi-agency group exercise, intended to enhance interagency understanding, cooperation and response to wildland interface fires.
• The exercise will include the use of specialized wildfire suppression and structural protection equipment, aircraft bucketing and a cutting-edge real-time mapping ARCGIS Collector App for a simulated Evacuation Alert notification.
• The City of Coquitlam successfully applied for a $25,000 grant from the Province of British Columbia and administered by the Union of B.C. Municipalities for community wildland interface preparedness, including work toward a multi-agency exercise.
• The exercise builds on the CFR’s existing wildland interface preparedness, which includes:
  1. A Wildfire Protection Plan and Mundy Park Forest Management Plan;
  2. Three Structure Protection Unit trailers;
  3. Wildfire interface training for all CFR personnel, along with a team of trained wildfire interface specialists who are often deployed to support provincial wildfire response; and
  4. Steps to mitigate wildland urban interface fires including a wildfire buffer in northwest Coquitlam, a summer water restriction relaxation program, park patrols by CFR and bylaw officers, and regulations in high-risk areas imposed through an Interface Wildfire Risk Management Development Permit Area.

Media contact:
Jim Ogloff
Fire Chief
City of Coquitlam
604-927-6401
jogloff@coquitlam.ca