Blackpool Fire Chief Mike Savage spoke to Black Press recently about what the fire department has been doing since October 2020 with regards to operating a temporary helipad in the North Thompson along Highway 5 next to the Blackpool Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD) hall.
“We’ve been providing the service to the community in partnership with the private landowner at virtually no cost,” Savage explained. “The cost of our crew callouts, and snow removal in the winter, is our biggest expense, and we must undertake snow removal for our own department and assisting B.C. Ambulance in a callout anyway.
“This year, because no one has done anything or come forward after three-and-a-half years to move forward with a new helipad site, the landowner is looking to possibly develop his property. We had the opportunity to look at a B.C. Aviation grant and we went through the steps of contacting people who offer the grant.”
Savage said the BVFD started going through “this process of getting more information” once they found out about the grant, following up with conversations with B.C. Air Ambulance, the pilots, Interior Health (IH) and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) fire protection services division.
“We feel we’ve lost the support from the TNRD on this, and they didn’t get the facts right on why we were hoping to acquire the grant,” said Savage. “The goal of the fire department for applying for this funding was to essentially make things better by making a fully certified pad, which would be at best a temporary and safe landing zone until a more permanent solution could be found in the valley.”
He added that over the years the idea of a helipad had been researched by previous TNRD Area “A” director Carol Schaffer and others in the valley multiple times.
In response to the question of the District of Clearwater possibly looking into a similar grant application, Mayor Merlin Blackwell stated that the application for a grant to assist in acquiring land adjacent to Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital for a potential emergency helipad has been delayed until next year.
“With the current deadline coming up for that particular grant application for this year we just don’t have enough time, especially since we would have to do more due diligence and research to provide information with the grant application,” Blackwell said. “We are looking at possibly applying next year following a feasibility study about this important service to our area.”
The mayor acknowledged the “incredible commitment” of the BVFD and their operation of the temporary helipad next to the fire hall for the past three years until something closer to the hospital could be implemented.
“We recognize the dedication and amazing work the Blackpool fire department volunteers, under the direction of Chief Mike Savage, have contributed to the area while providing this safe, temporary helipad, and we know they have put in so much work to maintain it year round and become certified through additional training each year. We are really grateful for their service.”
Blackwell said that for now there is a much smaller grant the district will apply for to engage a feasibility study on a permanent helipad and what will be needed to accomplish that. “The feasibility study would be between $15,000 to $30,000, which seems like a lot of money, but really isn’t for giving us a head start on whatever the process is a year from now when we can actually apply for the grant.”
The district has discussed the idea with Heidi Schilling, manager of administrative services at the hospital, and Interior Health, since the TNRD has “passed this torch on to the DOC,” said Blackwell. There were two potential sites identified previously as possible locations for an emergency helipad adjacent to the hospital. “It makes a lot more sense that a helipad be within walking distance to the hospital.”
Schilling told Black Press that “Following a discussion with the district I approached IH asking about the possibility of releasing that land to be used for the helipad. The response was they are not willing to release the land for that purpose at this point, but no reason was given as to why.”
Black Press has reached out to Interior Health, but as of going to press had not received a reply about the land adjacent to the hospital in Clearwater.
Blackwell is committed to following up with IH via a formal letter to enquire as to “what the reasoning is behind not releasing or selling us the land for that purpose.” He has also spoken recently with Sun Peaks Mayor Al Raine about a similar project. “Sun Peaks is another community that has a $1.2 million helipad on the books for next spring. It’s important to give the public a sense of scope as to why this is not as simple a project to undertake as they might think.”
For now, the team of certified volunteer firefighters with Blackpool Fire Rescue will continue to work to maintain the current landing site on a temporary basis. Savage shared the heli-landing statistics for the past three years, noting that there were three landings at the Blackpool hall site in 2020, five in 2021, and four in 2022. So far this year there have been three landings.
“What we have been doing is filling the void along Highway 5 in the North Thompson Valley until something more permanent can be accomplished with a closer to the hospital landing pad.”
At time of press the Barriere ronaldomanosa had not heard back from the TNRD on this discussion regarding the proposed future of a permanent helipad in the District of Clearwater.
