Local and provincial government representatives join Fire and Flood founder and president Terry Raymond as he makes the first ribbon cut on the company's new facility. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

FIRE AND FLOOD MITIGATING, PATENTED TECH

Fire and Flood Emergency Services celebrates new headquarters and technology upgrades

Sep 20, 2024 | 8:52 PM

Fire and Flood Emergency Services Ltd. held a grand opening for its new central Alberta headquarters, located in the Burnt Lake Industrial area just outside of Red Deer, as well as a demonstration for its new technology on September 20.

Many community members, stakeholders, government representatives, and international delegates from Greece were in attendance.

Previously operating out of a space just outside of Sylvan Lake, the new facility allows for better collaboration and shows stakeholders in the province that the company is here to stay and aims to create long lasting jobs in the emergency sector, said Dakota Gilmar, business coordination manager for the company.

Construction of the new space took just under a year, he added, although Terry Raymond, founder and president of the company, owned the land for many years beforehand.

In addition to a ribbon cutting and tour for the team’s new space, Fire and Flood held a demonstration of new patented fire and flood mitigation equipment that they have begun to utilize. By taking existing equipment and repurposing it together for a new initiative, the company has created a high-volume mobile hydrant system that allows firefighters to transfer large amounts of water over longer distances.

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“In layman’s terms, we’re getting more water on the fire. This isn’t trying to eliminate any of the conventional ways that we fight wildfire, it’s actually designed to force-multiply. By creating a safe corridor around a community, that’s allowing more grounds personnel, more front line workers to be in the fight, stay in the communities longer, not being burned over,” said Gilmar. “That’s also allowing them to be more effective on their structural protection side, as well as creating that safe corridor.”

Fire and Flood Emergency Services Ltd. demonstrates a protective corridor they can erect in firefighting emergencies, while a helicopter refills from the new mobile hydrant for aerial firefighting. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

He added that the mobile hydrant system supplies frontline workers with steadily available water at high pressures, without drawing from municipality reservoirs.

Although firefighting efforts are its most evident use, the technology is designed to help with flood mitigation as well.

“There’s pumps that are specifically built to move high volumes of water from an unwanted area, and dams and barrier mitigation options to keep highly critical assets dry and out of harm’s way. So, critical infrastructure protection as well as pumping water out of an inundated area,” Raymond explained its flood use.

He added that the new system puts the company in a position to respond to an emergency at a moment’s notice for “any objective, anytime, anywhere.”

Raymond was inspired to address fire mitigation strategies after the devastating Fort McMurray wildfires of 2016. Since then, what began as a local Albertan’s dream has grown into an international operation.

“This will be used anywhere in the world. These systems are built for the fireline, moving water to aviation, ground crews, and municipalities, as well as walls of water to protect communities in the event of a class five to six fire impingement coming into communities like Fort McMurray and Slave Lake in the past,” Raymond said. “We’re trying to reduce those incidences or steer the fire around these communities we all live in.”

In addition to Red Deer, the company now has headquarters in High Level, Alta., Kamloops, B.C., and California, and is open to expanding onto other continents.

“It’s an exciting day for Red Deer County, and it’s an exciting day for Fire and Flood. I’m looking forward to seeing this company continue to grow at the rate of growth that I see them — they’re growing very, very fast,” said Red Deer County Mayor Jim Wood. “I want to acknowledge the folks here today from Greece, because these folks are here because we have something very exciting happening here.”

Fire and Flood Emergency Services Ltd. is a privately-owned company that works with governments and other agencies to offer contracted services. Gilmar said that some of the benefits of the private sector include an ability for the company to raise its own capital rather than be restrained by budgets, and “push the envelope” on technologies used and how operations run.

The company has been serving Red Deer County and the surrounding area for about 7-8 years, he said.

An aerial firefighting demonstration. (rdnewsNOW/Ashley Lavallee-Koenig)

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