The Cranbrook Fire Department is urging residents to avoid fire scenes so first responders can arrive quickly.
“If we, as the general public, converge on an incident, that means my staff can’t get there to help the four members who are desperately trying to be effective and put the fire out,” said Cranbrook Fire and Emergency Services Director Scott Driver.
“Please don’t come and congest the roads, because we need to get there too.”
A recent example was the house fire along Mount Nelson Crescent on July 8, which saw a constant parade of onlookers slowed to a crawl to catch a glimpse of the fire.
Driver said there are a limited number of on-duty firefighters, so extra staff are coming from home in regular vehicles.
“It needs to be known that there are only four firefighters working and in order to put a structure fire out we need 12 on scene,” he added.
“Staff are coming from home on a page out and they’re trying to access the scene in the same types of vehicles that we’re all driving.”
While the public may be curious about what’s going on, Driver said it’s best for everyone to stay where they are when an incident is unfolding.
“It’s not safe for us to work when there are that many people around,” he said.
“When we see smoke in a column across the town, stay put.”
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