About Arjuna George

Vision: A responsive and sustainable fire-rescue service, effectively meeting community needs and valued by those we serve. Mission: Always learning, engaging and adapting to be response ready. Response Report Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 61 calls for assistance in May.  (Calls to Date:  291) Operations To be proactive regarding wildfire prevention a recommendation was […]

Vision: A responsive and sustainable fire-rescue service, effectively meeting community needs and valued by those we serve. Mission: Always learning, engaging and adapting to be response ready. On behalf of the Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue organization I would like to thank Trustee and outgoing Chairperson Per Svendsen for his fantastic leadership to the board […]

As Fire Chief of Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue, it is my honour to present the 2018 Annual Fire Chief’s report. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District Board of Trustees and volunteer committee members who dedicated countless hours in 2018 for the betterment of our […]

Response Report: Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 49 calls for assistance in March.  From January to March 2019, SSIFR has responded to 72 Fire Incidents, 71 Medical Incidents, 13 Rescues, and 10 calls for Assistance (Total 166 Calls) Operations This month firefighters attended our first of the year brush fires.  Two fast moving brush […]

Response Report – Salt Spring Island Firefighters responded to 58 calls for assistance in February, a 52% INCREASE over Feb 2018. Operations As the cold weather hit, so did an increase in chimney fires and Carbon Monoxide calls.  Chimney fires are a leading cause for structure fires on Salt Spring Island.  These fires can readily spread […]

Incident Report – Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR) responded to a record 183 Incidents in December 2018, ending the year with our highest call volume in history of 816 incidents. These incidents included: Fires: 8 Hydro Fires, 1 Chimney Fire, 1 Mobile Home/Trailer Fire, 1 Vehicle Fire, 2 Brush/Grass Fires, 3 Sightings/Smells of Fire, […]

Response Report – Salt Spring Island Fire rescue (SSIFR) responded to 34 incidents in November totaling 633 incidents from January 1-November 30, 2018. These incidents included: 2 Chimney fires, 8 medical calls, 6 MVI (motor vehicle incidents), 3 Rescues (1 rope/high/confined, 1 elevator, 1 animal), 5 Calls for assistance, 3 Open burns, 2 Beach fires, […]

Do you have a Carbon Monoxide (CO) alarm installed in your home? – Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue recently attended a carbon monoxide (CO) incident at a home that was too close a call for those exposed. Although it was originally thought to be false alarm, firefighters took reading of the air with a 4 […]

Response Report – SSIFR responded to an above average month with 79 Incidents in September. Alarm Bells – 5, Assistance – 11, Medical – 27, HAZMAT – 2, MVI – 5, Structure Fire – 4, Open Burn – 18, Hydro – 1, Beach Fire – 2, Brush / Grass Fire – 3, Rubbish Fire – […]

Salt Spring Fire Rescue (SSIFR) responded to 71 Incidents for the month of July. Operations Update Due to dry and hot weather, SSIFR declared a full fire ban July 18, in an effort to reduce human-caused fires on the island. Since July 12th Salt Spring Island has maintained a steady “Extreme” Fire danger. Work is […]

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue has been requested to continue our wildfire deployment in northern British Columbia. A replacement crew left August 29th, 2018 to relieve SSIFR Firefighters Taylor and Nuyens. Firefighters Mitchell Sherrin and Jason Gaffney took over starting Aug 30th, 2018. The state of emergency declared August 15th has now been formally extended […]

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue has sent a replacement team to relieve Firefighters Ponsford and Byrne after an exhausting week battling the fires in northern British Columbia. Firefighters Eric Taylor and Warren Nuyens are the second team to deploy from Salt Spring Island. Ponsford and Byrne are on route home for some well-deserved rest. Ponsford […]

British Columbia is facing another extreme fire season with over five hundred fires burning in British Columbia. On Aug 15th a provincial state of emergency was declared for the second year in a row. After a request for assistance from the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue deployed our reserve […]

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue responded to 60 Incidents in June 2018. These were: Twenty (20) medical emergencies, One (1) structure fire, Five (5) motor vehicle incidents (MVIs), Eight (8) calls for assistance, Two (2) BC Hydro incidents – one fire and one tree on lines, Thirteen (13) open burns, One (1) animal rescue, Two […]

During the month of May 2018, the Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue (SSIFR) responded to 62 incidents. These included: 21 medical incidents, 16 open burn incidents, 7 motor vehicle incidents (MVI), 3 brush fires and 2 reports of a suspected brush fire, 4 calls for assistance, 1 structure fire, 1 reported structure fire, 2 alarms […]

In April 2018, Salt Spring Fire Rescue responded to 41 incidents including: Three commercial and one residential alarm bell, Three calls for assistance, One beach fire, One chemical spill or leak, One BC Hydro fire, 21 medical assistance calls, Two motor vehicle incidents, Six open burn calls, One rescue, and One chimney fire. Operations Update […]

In March 2018, Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue responded to 45 incidents including: – Three alarms (two residential and one carbon monoxide,) – Five calls for assistance, – Twenty calls for medical assistance, – Two motor vehicle incidents, Six open burns, Five structure fires, Three vehicle fires and One false alarm. With rainfall for both February […]

FireSmart is a wildfire safety programme with an economical and common sense approach. The key concept of FireSmart involves removing or reducing the amount of burnable material (think “fire fuel”) from around your home. The area within 10 meters (30 feet) of your home is the “Priority Zone.” If you remove fire fuel from this […]

Response Report – Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue responded to 38 incidents in February, 2018. These included three structure fires (two chimney and one smoke in structure), 20 medical emergencies, two motor vehicle incidents, two BC Hydro incidents – one line down and one tree on fire, two calls for assistance, two commercial and two residential alarms, […]

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue responded to 47 Incidents in January 2018. They were: 13 BC Hydro incidents – 2 fires, 6 lines down, and 5 trees on fire; 11 medical responses; 7 requests for assistance; 3 structure fires – 1 commercial and 2 chimney; 3 motor vehicle incidents; 5 alarm bells (4 commercial); 1 […]

SSIFR responded to 63 Incidents for the month of December. The final statistics for 2017 ended the year with 701 calls for assistance, making 2017 the district’s 3rd busiest year in Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue history. Operations Update SSIFR finished off the year with a response-heavy December due to an increase in weather related […]

Salt Spring Island Fire-Rescue (SSIFR) responded to 45 calls in November 2017 making a total of 642 incidents this year. Firefighter responses this month included seven for assistance, 27 for medical emergencies, three for motor vehicle incidents, two for open burns, two for residential fires, and one for a vehicle fire. On November 4, SSIFR […]

Firefighters responded to 44 incidents this month, making a total of 592 incidents for this year. October 4: SSIFR Firefighters responded a nine-hour call comprised of four incidents – a medical call, a commercial fire alarm, a structure fire, and a vehicle fire on Sarah Way. The structure fire on Devine Road was a small […]