In partnership with the International Association of Fire Fighters, Kamloops Fire Rescue was selected to host a comprehensive training and information program—Responding to the Interface—for wildland-urban interface response, command, strategies, and tactics. This important event was funded through federal government grants as part of a pilot project with the International Association of Fire Fighters to prepare structural firefighters for the dangers and hazards of wildland urban interface fires.

More than 25 professional municipal firefighters from across Western Canada came to Kamloops August 1–4, 2023, to learn critical skills through a combination of classroom sessions and hands-on scenarios in the community.

The goal of this event was to train and certify firefighters to teach the course themselves—leaving behind trusted and trained local instructors to provide the Responding to the Interface course to all local firefighters. Kamloops Fire Rescue benefited by having four members become fully certified in the course.

Wildland firefighters are experts at combatting fires in our forests and grasslands, while structural firefighters are trained and experienced in dealing with structure fires. The wildland-urban interface is where the two environments meet. Fighting fires in the interface requires its own set of knowledge, skills, and tactics to provide increased protection for residents, homes, businesses, and infrastructure.

The Responding to the Interface course is designed to provide firefighters and company officers a consistent, basic understanding of safety, command and control, and strategy and tactics for structural defense to use when fighting interface fires.

Kamloops Fire Rescue thanks the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Government of Canada, specifically Natural Resources Canada, for funding this vital program.