A recent B.C. Wildfire Service Rapattack training exercise benefitted the community by adding to the South Canoe Trail System.
Rapattack is a unit of helicopter-mobile firefighters who are based near the Salmon Arm airport.
“Making trails is exactly what we do when we’re on a fire line,” said rapattack fire crew supervisor Mark Corbett, who explained that both trails and fire guards are dug down to the mineral soil. Rapattack crews completed 137 metres of unfinished trail on the lower No Tears Climb Trail as well as 231 metres on the KC Memorial Trail.
The crew broke new ground on MoBuddah Climb Trail, adding approximately 300 metres of trail and 1.2 kilometres of corridor cut with chainsaws.
In total, 28 rapattack members participated in the exercise. Corbett said that rapattack had done similar trail building exercises to help the Shuswap Trail Alliance, Salmon Arm Parks and Recreation, the Larch Hills Nordic Club and the Salmon Arm Snow Blazers Snowmobile Club.