2560 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

i think we need a round of applause for devin waugh.

 

 

 

Police are calling a Victoria man a hero after he climbed down the Selkirk Trestle to rescue a woman in distress who had jumped into the Gorge Waterway Wednesday night.

 

 

Devin Waugh, who lives in the Railyards, said he was walking along the trestle around 9:30 p.m. when he heard a woman yelling and then saw her jump from the trestle into the cold water below.

A nearby cyclist called 911 and shone his light on the water as Waugh spoke to the woman and told her to swim to the wooden piling and hang on.

 

 

“She was clearly extremely distressed,” said Waugh, 31. The woman went back and forth between hanging onto the piling and pushing off into the open water.

____________________

“I made the call to climb down the side of the trestle down to the water level,” said Waugh, who used his rock-climbing experience to navigate the wooden pilings.

 

 

Waugh crouched on one of the crossbeams between the pilings and grabbed the woman’s hand. He spoke to the woman, who was wearing only a nightgown, and reassured her that everything was going to be OK.

_____________________

“He’s a hero,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Cam MacIntyre. “We are thankful Devin was in the right place at the right time, and did an incredibly brave thing in a potentially life-threatening situation.”

 

 

Waugh, who works as an Indigenous land-use consultant, said he didn’t think twice about taking action — it was all instinct.

“She clearly needed help.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...stle-1.24197331

 

 

 

_______________________

 

 

if anyone wants to drop him a line to thank him there is an e-mail address here for him:

 

https://kwusen.ca/devin-waugh

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 September 2020 - 02:43 AM.

[Mike K.]

Big-O Tire next to Serious Coffee on the Colwood strip went up in flames this afternoon just at the start of the rush.

Old Island is shut down in both directions between Wale and Six Mile.

[Nparker]

Big-O Tire next to Serious Coffee on the Colwood strip went up in flames this afternoon...

That's not going to improve local air quality.

[Mike K.]

Still shut down. Yikes.

Can you imagine living in proximity to that blaze? A tire fire ain’t no joke.

[Nparker]

True. I hope no one has been injured and the fire is out soonn

[Victoria Watcher]

Rob and Jess arrived in BC from England last October to do some skiing and travelling and ended up being trapped by the pandemic. They stayed in Revelstoke working in traffic control and waiting for the chance to start their trip of of a lifetime.  This was a tour of the great outdoors with their paddle boards, dirt bikes and boat and they were living out of their van  Having been on the road for less than a month they stopped to get their van fixed at the local Big O tire.  While they were waiting for the van to be repaired a fire consumed everything they had. This included their travel cash , clothing, fishing gear, camping gear, dirt bike gear, laptop, cameras , and irreplaceable photos.  They were left in the parking lot devastated by their loss with only the clothes on their back.

 

 

 

bang!  almost $10,000 raised.

 

https://www.gofundme..._cp share-sheet

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 10 September 2020 - 06:01 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

this is a tough one.

 

 

https://www.timescol...fire-1.24200846

 

 

 

Hours before a suspicious fire destroyed a home in the 4100-block of Carey Road, Saanich police were called to the house in response to a reported dispute between a landlord and tenant.

 

Landlord Marlisa Martin said the tenants had been evicted after months of unpaid rent and over concerns the property had become a drug house. She was about to serve an order of possession.

[GetLisaSomeHelps]

 

Martin is in the process of finding out if the damage is covered by insurance, but she said she’s been told the insurance does not cover tenant vandalism.

 

Huh? If it is found that the tenant committed arson her policy will be null and void???? 

[Nparker]

Huh? If it is found that the tenant committed arson her policy will be null and void????

That's insurance companies for you.

[Matt R.]

Wonder if they had the right insurance for having tenants?

Matt.

[Barrrister]

People forget that you need additional insurance to couver tenants in the house. It is not so much that they forget but rather they dont disclose to the insurance company because they dont want to pay the additional premium. No sympathy here.

[lanforod]

Well, i guess if they were planning to build two new houses on it, they're further along the process now...

[On the Level]

I can juts imagine the hell this family went through over the past number of months trying to gain control over their house while it was getting trashed.  This is one reason why we stopped providing rentals years ago.  It just isn't worth it.

[Victoria Watcher]

The City of Victoria is pulling out of a 40-year-old mutual-aid agreement to provide fire ­service to Esquimalt, Saanich and Oak Bay over concerns ­ that other municipalities are calling on Victoria more than it calls on them for help, at ­taxpayers’ expense.

 

Victoria’s mayor and fire chief both say the fire department is still willing to help its neighbours, but they want those neighbours to pay for it.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ires-1.24206008

 

 

it seems reasonable to be compensated when aid is provided.

[todd]

Why did they sign it in the first place?

[Victoria Watcher]

Why did they sign it in the first place?

 

perhaps back then they thought there would be more evenness.  

 

there are far less fires than there were 40 years ago.

[Mike K.]

What shocking is we don’t realize just how much firefighting consumes of our annual tax bills. The number is huge.

[Victoria Watcher]

What shocking is we don’t realize just how much firefighting consumes of our annual tax bills.

 

they are the highest-paid blue collar workers in our local government.

[On the Level]

What shocking is we don’t realize just how much firefighting consumes of our annual tax bills. The number is huge.

 

The "Statement of Financial Information" for the municipalities is usually a good place to go, but Victoria's still is a bit obscured.  It shows some detailed information like salaries (averaging around $105,000) but it lumps all protection services together at $80M.   I found Fire listed on the draft budget summary  $17,600,000.

 

https://www.victoria...Summary (2).pdf

 

I can only think that Victoria pulling out of mutual aid is in response to CoV council realizing that other municipalities are making them look bad given the increased social decay and areas turning into slums.  "Look at what we are doing and what they are not" message.  I don't think the other municipalities care much since they can rely on each other if needed.  

[UDeMan]

yeah, firefighter is the golden ticket of municipal jobs and there are no signs saying AFAB.