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Briefs - Cool heads prevailed in Burns Lake

Vanderhoof’s mayor told district council that he was very impressed by the emergency response to the mill fire in Burns Lake.

Cool heads prevailed in Burns Lake

Vanderhoof’s mayor told district council that he was very impressed by the emergency response to the mill fire in Burns Lake.  Gerry Thiessen said he was struck by the competence of teams at the Burns Lake hospital and also by firefighters and ambulance crews.

“Everything was totally precision and there was no panic,” Thiessen said. in spite of the number of burn victims and the hospital’s small size.

He told council that as vice-chair of the Nechako Lakes regional district, he released the fire crews to go to Burns Lake in order to fight that fire, but he had considered what might have happened had he been out of town and unable to respond. Thiessen said he wants an agreement with other communities to share services for any big emergency.

“I’m developing a memorandum of understanding with other mayors of Fraser Lake and Fort St. James because its important to have an understanding like that.”