Fire destroys Paradise Valley home
by Dave Preston
- All that is left of a two-storey Paradise Valley home is the foundation after an early morning fire Monday. (Contributed/Trevor Dixon)
It wasn’t a happy Valentine’s Day for the owner of a two-storey house in Paradise Valley. The structure burned to the ground Monday morning.
“I could see my shop silhouetted by flames,” said Trevor Dixon, who lives next door and serves as an alternate director on the regional district board.
Dixon said he woke at about 6:30 a.m. and saw the fire coming from behind his shop. “It was fully ablaze then,” he said.
The house was being renovated at the time of the fire, according to Dixon.
Although he called 911, Dixon said he didn’t think any fire department would be arriving to put out the flames.
“The fire department isn’t going to come here unless it’s in the trees,” said Dixon.
A highways crew on the Coquihalla Connector first spotted the fire, which was north and below their vantage point on the highway. They too called 911 and fire dispatch called Fire Chief Grant Topham.
The fire chief told Peachland News he did drive up to the scene to ensure it wasn’t within the District of Peachland boundary. It wasn’t, so fire trucks were not called in.
“We don’t provide them with fire protection, because it’s out of the District of Peachland fire protection area,” said Topham.
In fact, the entire valley is without any kind of structural fire protection. The Ministry of Forests will send in forestry firefighters during fire season, but no fire department will respond to a structure fire. That has residents in the valley concerned for their safety.
Dixon said the valley, which is heavily forested, has been hit in recent years with a double whammy of the pine beetle and the Douglas fir tussock moth. Both have devastated trees in the valley, adding to the fire fuel load.
Had Monday’s fire happened in the summer, “That would have been one nasty interface fire,” said Dixon.
The valley has several things against it when it comes to fire protection, according to Dixon. First, there are no fire hydrants in the sparsely populated rural area, and the valley is unincorporated.
“You need water,” said Dixon. The District of Peachland has a water intake at the end of Trepanier Road and a water main running under the road to Peachland homes, but Dixon said, “We can’t tap into that.”
Peachland council passed a policy that any areas outside the district’s boundaries that wish to partake in municipal services must first become part of Peachland. Dixon said some valley residents have talked about that as an option, but he doesn’t believe Peachland wants the valley.
“Peachland isn’t interested in us whatsoever,” said Dixon.
The valley is not services and Peachland would have to pour money into upgrades, Dixon said. He added the municipality should consider fire protection for the valley, because if anything untoward happens in the valley, it could quickly become Peachland’s problem also.
“It’s something that should be supported as a first line of defence for interface fires,” said Dixon.
- Excited
- Informed
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
Question: Where is the cutoff line for protection. Does Trepanier Rd not run all the way out to the gravel pit area? So part of it is not covered? Is Paradise off of Trepanier Rd. Just where is the coverage ending? Does it end at the overpass of the Connector? or further up? Just curious…Can someone give me the boundaries.
Trepanier Manor, MacKinnon Park, Parrot Island are all inside the District of Peachland boundaries. West of those is the regional district. Some of the properties up MacKinnon Road (past Parrot Island) are also in the regional district.
Basically, Trepanier Road past Parrot Island and all of the roads leading off it, are in the regional district. (Star Place, Maxwell Road, Paradise Valley Road.)
Have a look at the boundaries.
http://www.peachland.ca/cms/wpattachments/wpID60atID261.pdf
Its almost silly to comment on this but I couldn’t resist.
Let’s see
There is a fire obviously outside our jurisdiction, the fire chief goes up to make sure nobody is in grave danger, just in case
The people that live there know they have no fire protection or any agreement for any
If our firefighters and trucks go, it leaves taxpayers without protection so non taxpayers get the service
If a firefighter gets hurt fighting a fire outside of a agreed area they may not get any compensation, certianly not from the town, and the Chief may be held financially responsible for his decision to send troops in
If a response to your house was delayed because our trucks were off doing their own thing, who would you sue
No brainer, good neighbor for making sure no lives were in danger, but don’t commit to outside areas that don’t contribute and don’t have agreements for fire protection
I’m sure in the summer there is agreements with forestry to allow our resources to be deployed elsewhere, and we can expect the same in return.
There are no winners in this story. It is disingenuous to suggest Paradise Valley should join Peachland and pay municipal taxes because the municipality doesn’t want them. I don’t live in Paradise Valley but I’m certain they pay considerable taxes to the RDCO and likely get precious little in return. Any agreement would be with the RDCO and Peachland, not a small pocket of residents with nothing “mutual” to return. RDCO have considerable assets they could leverage if they chose to.
If a water pipe broke in your house and your next door neighbour had the correct wrench to fix the problem but chose not to lend it to you he is well within his rights, but a lousy neighbour nonetheless.
It scares me when an Emergency Responder choses to confirm jurisdiction prior to deploying resources because precious time is wasted. Had life been in jeopardy it would make for tragic consequences.
As I said earlier, there are no winners here.
It strikes me as odd that PFRS will jump into the fray for something like the Okanagan Mountain fire but do nothing when the fire is on their own doorstep. No glory to be had perhaps? Obviously the protection of property is not within their mandate nor is the concept of “Mutual Assistance” with the RDCO. There could easily be an agreement drawn up to enable cost recovery.
scs1069,
The residents of Paradise Valley are (I think) in the Central Okanagan West Electoral area of the RDCO.
Understand that it is up to: the residents of Paradise Valley, or the RDCO to approach the District of Peachland with any requests for agreements for service from the District.
Mutual aid isn’t very ‘mutual’ when Paradise Valley has nothing to offer in return…..
Quit blaming the District and the Fire Department on this one. It is simply a matter that the Paradise Valley residents don’t want to pay municipal taxes and/or abide by Peachland’s bylaws; as is their right.
Sanity?
Wow mhumber reality check please.
They don’t pay so they get what they get.
It would have been a hard thing to witness for all parties attending.
Even if the fire department would have attended by the time the request from the proper channels were approved there wouldn’t have been much hope so save much anyway.
No lives were lost, thats the main thing.
mhumber.
First, my sincere upset for the loss of the house and whatever contents were lost in the fire.
My understanding is that Peachland Fire was on scene and ascertained that there were no persons at risk. I also understand that if one of our firefighters was hurt fighting a fire outside the coverage area, that his (or her) family would be without benefits.
Whether Chief Topham, in spite of the rules, would have sent his crew in if there were persons trapped is a decision that he did not have to make in this case. I don’t envy him for having to make these decisions.
Nobody who loves outside of any built up area (municipality, etc) is forced to do so. They make a choice, and sometimes that choice, sadly, results in a loss from fire or flood or what have you. I am virtually certain that most everyone who lives outside the district is well aware of what services are not available to them.
It is not up to Peachland Council to provide fire and water service to the whole of south-central Okanagan. It is, however, up to people who live outside of the Municipality to arrange for those services that they feel are important to them. If they are concerned about fire protection, then they ought to either negotiate a contract for structure protection with Peachland or West Kelowna; or start their own fire brigade.
Peachland’s negotiating stance is clear that fire protection comes as part of a package of services. Kind of like cable TV – you have to pay for a set of channels whether you want them or not.
I think that Peachland’s position is clear, straightforward, and therefore moral: Choose whether you want to live in Peachland, or not.
Just my opinion.
Sanity?
Just wish “Peachland” would have the same attitude when it comes to the “out of jurisdiction zipline”. In my opinion, since the fire department were there anyway watching it burn, then why couldn’t they at least have sprayed water and watch? No big deal to send a bill to the owners or add it to the taxes. I think that’s the moral end of it. Being a firefighter and watching a house burn… Kind of like a doctor driving by an accident, and keeps driving. Maybe I’m a little different. If I’m driving along and I see someone in need, like a senior with a flat, I’ll get out and offer assistance. That’s just me and my opinion.
p.s. what do politicians and diapers have in common? they should be changed regularly
The ‘fire department’ was not there watching it burn. The fire chief went up to take a look. In his car. There were no fire trucks there.
Guess I should have read the whole story… I was in a rush to get the weiners and buns.
I recognise that services outside of Peachland are not normally covered and that is expected for sewage, water and normal municipal services etc.
Fire is life threatening and to actually go and view it and say it is out of my area and then watch and let it burn is just inhuman.There could have been someone killed.
I assume therefore if we see any member of council or of the fire chief or their family being in trouble we should do nothing because it is not our responsibility.
This is really a sad indictement of the morals of our civil servants. The message is loud and clear, if not in our area just watch and do nothing. Just hope it is not you.
The RDCO had the golden opportunity recently to get a start on a volunteer Fire Department for the Trepanier Valley by buying the Bush Truck that PFD no longer needed. They put it up for auction(cheap) . A structure to house it and volunteers close by may be the thing that could save Trepanier in the case of a summer fire, maybe even lives. Westside Road was in the same situation only a few years ago and the Fire Department they formed has been busy ever since with some very serious fires and accidents. It’s not too late to start negotiations and looking for a truck. Peachland Fire Department might even help.