MVFD -Apparatus Bay

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ABOUT METCHOSIN

The Fire District of Metchosin Is essentially a rural area about 35 km West of Victoria, BC. Canada. It covers about 30 square miles, and has approx. 4700 residents. *See the: About Metchosin page.

FRONT OFFICE

Here's where the general public enters. Here we give out information, and burning permits if the season requires it. The door has a buzzer so we can hear you come in, anywhere in the building. *See the: Front Office page.

RADIO ROOM

The Radio Room, is where we communicate with the 911 Emergency dispatchers, dispatch our own trucks, keep attendance & call out records, and generally try to maintain a link to emergency assistance for our firefighters during calls. *See the: Radio Room page.

SPEAKER

This is the Radio Room Speaker so when the firefighters are running around the apparatus bay, they can still hear the radio traffic.

CHALK BOARD

When an emergency call comes in, the information is written on this board. So when firefighters enter, they can see at a glance what and where the call is.

DISPATCH ORDER BOARD

This board is a reminder of which trucks go out, & in which order for different calls. Like for a House fire, Truck #6 goes first to establish control, and Truck #9 follows with more firefighters, equipment, and water. Trucks #'s 5,4,8, & 10 follow as they fill up with volunteer firefighters.

SOCIETY

The Metchosin Volunteer Firemen's Society does many things, from community events to fundraisers, to morale improving activities for the volunteers. *See the: Society page.

FIREFIGHTERS

Here's the Firefighters turnout gear, ready to put on at a moments notice. They are aligned in order of rank, and then seniority.

White helmets (not shown) are Fire Chief and Deputies.
Red helmets are Officers: Captain and Lieutenants.
Yellow helmets are Senior Firefighters, Firefighters, and Junior/Probationary (Probie) Firefighters.

*See the: FireFighter Turn-Out Gear page.
*See the: Fire Dept. Personnel page.

TRUCK #4

A 1968 International Loadstar 1800 Pumper built by HUB. This is our oldest in-service vehicle. Used primarily as backup, and as a reliable workhorse during bush fires. *See the: TRUCK #4 page.

TRUCK #5

A 1976 International Loadstar 1800 Tanker built by HUB. In a rural area such as ours, there are many places without fire hydrants or water sources. This truck therefore is sometimes the most important truck we have. Able to transport 1200 gallons of water, it has saved the day many times. *See the: TRUCK #5 page.

TRUCK #6

A 1980 GMC 1 Ton 4x4 Mini-Pumper built by HUB. Simple quick and agile, this peice of apparatus can transport up to three firefighters, to establish incident command, and or put an initial attack on a fire. This Mini-Pumper with it's modest tank, is ideal in stopping many smaller fires before they become the more serious bigger fires. *See the: TRUCK #6 page.

TRUCK #8

A 1995 Ford F350 Econoline Rescue Truck is the newest of our fleet. Replacing the old Truck #8, this truck boasts a formidable 460ci Overdrive fuel injected engine, and houses the equipment for Incident Command, Auto Extrication, and First Responder (First Aid). *See the: TRUCK #8 page.

TRUCK #9

A 1990 Volvo/WhiteGMC Triple-Combination Pumper built by Anderson Engineering. Powered by a Cummins L10 300hp Turbo Diesel, this is our main pumper. Housing many peices of firefighting equipment, it can also carry 6 firefighters. *See the: TRUCK #9 page.

TRUCK #10

A 1994 Chevrolet ½ Ton 4x4. Powered by a Vortec 4.3 litre V6, this little workhorse is used to courier firefighters, equipment and dirty hose to and from fire scenes. *See the: TRUCK #10 page.

OLD TRUCKS

Several Trucks have come in gone in the history of the Metchosin Volunteer Fire Protection Service. For pictures and information, visit their pages: *See the: Old Trucks page.

AIR FILLING STATION

This is the MAKOTM High Pressure Compressor Air Filling Station where we fill up our Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) bottles so we'll have cool clean air to breath when we go into a burning building or a place with toxic smoke. We also wash our Turn-Out Gear in this room, and store a 11 hp 3000psi HondaTM Pressure Washer used to clean larger diameter Hose.

Self Contained Breathing Apparatus

Not shown in the map, SCBA is used to deliver clean cool air to firefighters in dangerous situations, it is much like SCUBA gear, but without the underwater capabilities. We use the Scott Presur-Pak® 2.2 Open circuit breathing apparatus with Doning switches and Poly-Composite 2216 psi lightweight bottles rated for approx. 30 minutes of use. Some paks are also equiped with "Super Pass™ Alarms." A device that begins to whistle very loudly if the firefighter does not move for more than 30 seconds, letting others know he or she may be trapped or unconscious. There are at least 2 paks on each truck, with the exception of Truck &10. Not including what we have on the trucks, we have approximately 33 spare bottles, (some, are the older heavy kind.) For more info, see the *See the: Turn-Out Gear page.

HOSE TOWER

Besides the fact its a great place to mount our radio antenna, this 40 foot hose tower, is where we climb up a ladder onto a grating and then with a pulley, haul up the 50 foot lengths of hose for drying, after we've washed them. There is a fan at the top, which exhausts warm wet air, that has been brought through the apparatus bay and tower, from the shuttered vent on the far wall, just above the turn-out gear. We also store 20 litre buckets of concentrated class A and B Foam in this area, and two 9hp Briggs & StrattonTM 100gpm portable pumps for forestry applications.

INTAKE VENT

A shuttered or louvred vent, that opens when the fan is turned on in the Hose Tower to dry hose.

STORAGE

Just miscellaneous storage under the stairs for brooms and vaccuums.

SHOWERS

Here's where our firefighters can clean up after the dirty job of fighting a fire.

OVERHEAD DOORS

These overhead doors are basically powered by giant garage door openers! complete with remote controls in the trucks, they can also be opened or closed in the Radio Room, or by hitting the emergency button next to the rear entry door when you come in. Of course during a power failure, they can be opened manually with the use of an Overide Chain System.

OVERHEAD DOOR HARDWARE

There's a system of big Motors, Springs, Pressure Sensors, Switches and Chains which make up the hardware for our 20 foot high apparatus bay doors.

REAR ENTRY DOOR

When the tones go off, indicating that there is an emergency, sometimes the firefighters enter using the rear door. In case the door was locked, the tones automatically 'buzz' the door open, so the firefighters can get into the building. The door can also be locked and unlocked in the radio room.

REMOTE DOOR BUTTON

Situated just inside the rear entry door, this big green button when hit, will automatically open all the front overhead doors.

LIGHT SWITCHES

When the tones go off, indicating that there is an emergency, all the apparatus bay lights automatically go on. In addition there are numerous light switch pads scattered around the building to easily control the many overhead lights.

EXIT SIGNS

Fire Exit signs are mandetory in many places, (even when you have 20 foot automatic doors.)

GARDEN HOSE

We use this common garden hose to rinse off the trucks after we come back from a call.

WEENIES SERVED SIGN

Every Halloween, the Firemen's Society and the Municipality throw a party for the Metchosin residents, complete with a bonfire, fireworks, costume judging, and more, including free Hot Dogs, which as of Halloween 1996 totalled over 16,600! We therefore post a sign indicating how many Weenie's have been served since the start.

ANNIVERSARY BANNER

As of 1996, the Volunteer Firefighters of Metchosin have been volunteering for over 35 years. For more Historic information, check out the Archives on the Firemen's Society page.

BASKET STRETCHER

Used to rescue and transport people, a basket stretcher was even used as a toboggan to get a pregnant woman up her driveway in 24 inches of snow, during the Blizzard of '96.

LOCKERS

A place where firefighters can store clean clothes and personal effects, and also a place where some of the First Responder first aid supplies are stored.

FIRST RESPONDER

All firefighters in our part of the world, are trained in emergency first aid, to help the public, and sometimes even themselves. Our Firefighters are trained by the Justice Institute of British Columbia's Paramedic Academy in first aid known as First Responder Level 3. A time intensive approach to emergency first aid, it covers things like emergency First Aid, Spinal Immobilization, Oxygen therapy and even the Semi-Automatic External Defibrillators, (AED, "Shock Paddles"). First Responder kits are carried on Trucks #'s 6,8, & 9. *See the: First Responder page.

EXERCISE AREA

This area is used to keep our firefighters in shape for the strenuous duties involved with firefighting. It is made up of peices of equipment donated by those who no longer find the motivation to use them.

CHRISTMAS STUFF

Every year just before Christmas, Santa visits the fire department, and the Society decorates the trucks with plywood cut-outs and decorations. Driving around the municipality with sirens and Christmas music blaring, the fire department helps Santa visit the children who don't normally get to leave their houses very often.

CLEAN HOSE

After it's been in the Hose Tower, this is where we store the clean dry hose, ready to go on the trucks. Including what's on the trucks, we have Approximately:

1500 feet of 4" Hi-Vol Supply Line.
4250 feet of 2½" Supply/Attack Line.
2800 feet of 1½" threaded Attack Line.
5100 feet of 1½" forestry Attack Line.

REDUNDANT

A big word meaning excessive or not very useful.

ORCHARD ILLUSTRATIONS

The company belonging to Capt. Chris "Boots" Orchard, the volunteer who built this web site. You can visit his page at: http://www.orchard.nu/oi