News Leader News
ARTISTS SURVIVE ON SHOE STRING
Operating a non-profit organization in Princeton usually means a small budget, which affects the work that group can do during the course of any given year.
Vermilion Artists is one such group.
They held their annual general meeting last Wednesday night at Riverside Centre and the Financial Statement said all that had to be said.
The group had a bank balance on August 31, 2005 of $909.44.
Deposits for the year totaled $1,398.80 with expenses of $1,210.19 leaving a bank balance of $1,006.32 on August 31, 2006.
The group operates a tight ship hosting classes only when the costs can be covered by fees collected from participants.
Vermilion Artists also receive an annual grant from Princeton Arts Council. The grant totals $300.00.
"We had a grant of three hundred dollars," Vice President Harvey Donahue told those in attendance.
"Itıs really too small. You canıt do much with it as we need better financing."
The election of officers returned Mary Bedford to the President position and Harvey Donahue was re-elected Vice President. Linda Neumann will be Secretary with Miranda Grigg Treasurer.
Bedford asked members to help direct the future of the group hoping for a focus on making Vermilion Artists "more active socially and intellectually."
She summed up her request with a simple question: "What would you like to see the group do?"
Donahue emphasized his concern over funding and proposed approaching Princeton Arts Council for a larger grant.
"If they want us to progress we need the money. We need to convince the Arts Council this (Vermilion Artists) is an asset and an investment."
PXA LOOKS AT PROBLEMS AND PLANS
Princeton Exhibition Association (PXA) met on September 12 to review the condition of the grounds and consider what needs to be done before the grounds are shut down for the winter. The ongoing problems need a big injection of cash, which is not available.
The front gate needs to be replaced and the stage next to the caboose needs to be trashed. A number of repairs must be done to fences, and the PXA would like asphalt on Laurie Currie Way.
A rodent problem must be addressed right away. Clean-up of the grounds after the Fall Fair is still underway.
There are plans to have the annual Halloween Party at the fairgrounds and there will be discussions with Princeton Fire Department about details and who will do what.
The next meeting of the PXA takes place October 10, at the fairgrounds.
FOREST SERVICE HOSTS MEDIA
BC Forest Service Fire Information Officers gave local media an one-on-one, up-close look at what happens behind the scenes at a forest fire.FIO's Sylvie Bailey, Dean Fenn and Donna MacPherson fielded questions and conducted a tour of the Fire Suppression Camp, near Princeton Fairgrounds, and of the set up at Riverside Centre.
The hours are long says MacPherson, "We start usually 6:30 to 7 and run through 'til 10 to 11 and those hours are common. People are working 12 hour days and we can do that for 14 days then the entire crew changes."
Working on the Tatoosh Complex fire - named as all fires are, after a local landmark or community near where the fire is located - is an interesting experience for the three FIOs we met.
This is the third fire for both MacPherson and Bailey and the second for Fenn.
In the Fire Information Room the former classroom blackboards are covered with various details related to the Tatoosh and Border Lake fires. The details cover everything from the number of people and pieces of equipment on site to the weather conditions.
"We keep our status boards updated regularly so we are all speaking the same language," MacPherson explains.
The News Leader was escorted out to the Fire Suppression Camp for lunch and to see the mini tent town home to nearly 200 people.
"My regular job back at the office is Financial Officer," Bailey told us on the ride to the camp.
"I've gone from numbers to talking to the media, so the learning curve is steep."
Bailey says the BC Forest Service provides opportunities for staff to work behind the scenes of a forest fire and she has thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Everyone who works for the Forest Service should have an opportunity to work on a fire as it really opens your eyes."
The Princeton Fire Suppression Camp is currently home to 161 and another camp similar to the local one is set up near the Border Lake fire.
Forest Service staff basically swoop into a location and set up a camp, complete with sleeping quarters, kitchen facilities, washrooms, laundry, sewerage, offices, communications, warehouses and security within 24 hours.
The Princeton Fire Suppression Camp has between 75 and 100 structures on site.
Then another Forest Service crew comes in and runs the camp with meals contracted out to one of four catering companies that specialize in this particular field.
The Princeton Fire Suppression Camp was being provided meals from a company called FireWeed from Clearwater. The lunch menu on our visit consisted of what was being called a 'CCT' - a cucumber, cheese and tomato sandwich, with the choice of two soups, various raw vegetables, coffee, iced tea and deserts.
"This camp can feed 200," MacPherson pointed out.
Breakfast is served at 6:30 AM and the camp is usually all quiet by 11:00 PM. Everyone on site works a 14-day turnaround and firefighters fighting the Tatoosh and Border Lake fires are from all over BC.
"When you apply to work in the Forest Service," MacPherson explains, "You work anywhere in the province."
As the forest fire season is nearing the end of it's calendar, a lot of forest firefighters are off to finish school. Fighting fires for the BC Forest Service is a summer job to thousands of university students.
The average Unit Crew contains 20 members, which is then split into three different squads, each with a squad boss. The squad bosses receive their orders in the morning of where on the fire lines they will be and exactly what they will be doing.
The BCFS Operations at Riverside Centre includes a room for planning, basically devising the plan of attack at any given location on the fire.
There's Fire Behaviour Crews who analyze weather, weather patterns, fuel sources and timber condition to predict what the fire may or may not do under a variety of conditions.
There's a briefing area, the fire information room, communications areas dealing with both air and land communications, there's fire mapping and media relations.
In addition to all the Forest Service staff on site, countless local volunteers have joined the ranks to help out as the Tatoosh and Border Lake fires are fought.
Even after the fires are contained, which could take weeks, there will still be crews in the area for mop up work and a variety of other tasks related to clean up duties.
Crews will eventually move to other fires and the number of workers based in Princeton will slowly be reduced until the last bit of work is completed.
The Similkameen News Leader thanks BC Forest Service and FIO's MacPherson, Bailey and Fenn for their time and for allowing us to see the behind the scenes activity.
