Fire Suppression
The primary mission of any fire department is providing suppression abilities to combat any type of fire that may occur. Sooke Fire Rescue Service is no exception. All Sooke firefighters are trained to the guidelines of the Justice Institute of BC to meet Provincial Standards. From small garbage can fires, to forest fires, to large fires in a commercial building, Sooke Fire Rescue is prepared and equipped to deal with any emergency. In the event of a very large fire that exceeds our capabilities, neighbouring fire departments can be called on to assist through our mutual aid agreements. This allows fire equipment and personnel to respond outside the municipal boundaries to assist whenever the need is there. Responding from two modern fire stations, Sooke firefighters operate two fully equipped structural pumpers, a large 109 foot ladder truck / pumper truck combination unit and a wildland fire suppression unit. Additional equipment includes a 1400-gallon tanker truck for areas without fire hydrants. An additional older model pumper truck is kept in reserve as a back up unit when a truck may be down due to maintenance or mechanical problems.
All new recruit volunteer firefighters receive three months of basic training before they receive their pagers and can begin to attend emergency calls. A further six months of training and probation must be completed at which time each recruit undergoes testing to ensure their abilities as Level 1 Firefighters. Firefighters then continue with their training to become Level 2 firefighters and eventually have the opportunity to move up as officers in the department.