Fire station 4 is officially open on Burnaby Mountain

Burnaby Mountain residents who live beside the tank farm may be able to rest a little easier now that the brand new Fire Station 4 is open. The city hosted a community celebration to mark the opening on Saturday, July 20, which attracted many people from all over Burnaby.

It was a family-friendly event as children could explore the fire station, climb onto fire trucks, and toot the horn. There were few options for food. Burnaby firefighters barbecued hot dogs, and the queue was long on the hot, sunny July day. 

Local politicians mingled with Burnaby residents, who often approached them with their concerns about issues in their neighbourhoods. Several senior city staff members attended the event, including general manager of land and facilities James Lota, who spoke with the Beacon several months ago about the project. 

“Everything I’ve heard from the community is that they like the comfort of having emergency services close, especially with the growing UniverCity community there,” Lota said. 

The official opening ceremony started with councillor Maita Santiago as the MC for the event. She introduced the first speaker, Tsleil Waututh Elder Carleen Thomas. 

“We are grateful for the support of the Burnaby people as well. We are all here together. As we started our opposition to the then Kinder Morgan project, my sister created the hashtag ‘We are stronger together.’ We must remember that we are here as a collective to protect this beautiful place that we all call home right now,” Thomas said.

The next speaker, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, said Fire Station 4 was completed on time and budget. He also spoke about the tank farm and its proximity to the fire hall and the Burnaby Mountain community. 

“We all know what’s right next door to us. From our perspective here in the city, we didn’t want the project being disbanded. But we do know that if something does happen, that we will have the responsibility to protect as many of our neighbours and our citizens as we can,” Hurley said. “That’s what we will continue to endeavour to do, and you will hear more about that in the next few weeks as TMX moves into full production.”

After the ceremony, Hurley spoke with the Beacon briefly about the city’s plans in the event of an emergency at the tank farm. 

“If there’s a major incident there, it will take a lot of different pieces to make it work. Our fire department will focus on protecting our residents first. We are not responsible for anything inside the tank farm. That is TMX; they’re totally responsible for that,” Hurley said. “We have developed plans to protect the neighbourhood.” 

Hurley added that the city will release more information about its plans to protect the community in an emergency in the coming weeks. However, he noted, in an emergency, a lot rests on Trans Mountain (TMX) taking action. 

“Theoretically, TMX is responsible for evacuating people, but we know the reality is that it’ll be up to the city and our staff, together with RCMP, the fire force, and all our other departments, to be all hands on deck at that stage,” Hurley told the Beacon. 

Some Burnaby Mountain residents, SFU students, and faculty members have expressed concerns about the tank farm and the risk it poses to the community. The tank farm, which is located in an area with a large number of trees and houses and is on Burnaby Mountain, which is a forested area, poses a significant fire risk to the community and the city as a whole. Some residents have opposed the tank farm and its expansion for years. 

“In the late summer, this place really dries up, it’s extremely dangerous, so whether you have a fire starting in there or out here it’s dangerous. The fire chief says that the way they have built this, they can’t fight the fire,” Tim Takaro, professor emeritus of health sciences at SFU, told the Beacon last October.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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