Fire skids deployed to aid firefighting
Global Medic is deploying 'fire skids'—portable 1,000-litre water reservoirs—to remote communities in northern Ontario to help combat wildfires. These units allow standard pickup trucks to function as emergency firefighting vehicles in areas inaccessible to traditional equipment.
Why it matters
Demonstrates innovative, low-cost solutions for disaster response in remote regions facing increasing wildfire threats.
A piece of life-saving equipment is being deployed across northern Ontario that can turn any pickup truck into a fire truck.
The unit, known as a fire skid, consists of a 1,000-litre reservoir with a shut-off valve at the bottom.
“Four adults can lift this when it’s empty, off and on the back of a pickup,” said Kathleen Doherty, the rapid response team lead with Global Medic, an aid organization that delivered several units to Thunder Bay, On. this week. “It fills any ¾ tonne pickup. It plunks on the back; you fill the thousand lire reservoir with water and you’re good to go fighting fires.”
Many of the over 190 wildfires burning in Ontario are in remote and hard-to-get-to areas. Most of the communities being threatened are not accessible by road.
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