LYNN VALLEY resident Jason Sadier used a ladder to help (ieft to right) Leah Stewart, Monique NEWS photo Nail Lucente Davidson and Camille Davidson escape a fire that started outside their second-storey apartment. Water quality should be priority - GVRD report WATER QUALITY should be the driving force behind the local watershed management program, ac- cording to a report released by the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). Written by a panel of technical specialists, the water- shed management report calls on the Greater Vancouver Water District (GVWD) to renegotiate a 1967 agreement between the provincial gov- ernment and the GVWD that requires a minimum yield of harvesting to be done in the watershed region. The GVRD water committee endorsed staff recommenda- tions Tuesday to adopt the review panel’s findings. but two North Shore mayors voted against the report. Although GVWD > road building and timber harvesting do not appear tc degrade water quality, the initial rationale for the watershed management progam — to maintain a healthy, stable forest resistant to fire and disease — has changed, the report notes. “Pursuant to the amending indenture (agreement) of 1967, a gradual shift has occurred By Elizabeth Collings Nows Reporters from programs driven by salvaging of insect-infested or diseased timber towards a sus- tained yield, produc- tion-oriented forest, creating the potential dilemma of weighing water quality cisks against timber harvest and rev- enue generation,” the report states. The report also points out that “the requirement to meet an allowable annual cut in an area where water quality is Paramount seems contradic- tory.”” Current water quality monitoring programs were also found to be lacking. West Vancouver District Mayor Mark Sager and North Vancouver District Murray Dykeman said they could not support the report. said the detailed inventory of the Capilano, Seymour and Co- quitlam watersheds recom- mended by the panel should take place but not while the timber harvesting continues. Meanwhile, Dykeman said he could not support the report, even though there were many ‘*excellent points’’ in it, because North Vancouver District Council had supported a moratorium oan watershed timber harvesting in earlier council deliberations. The report also praised the GVWD in several areas: e the watershed control and se- curity was found to be ‘tone of the best in North America’: e the benefit of roads built for access (Oo remote areas for im- proved fire-fighting capability outweighed the potential for increased erosion; © GVWD forestry programs are well managed and ‘conducted in an environmentally-sensitive manner.”” Sager ecological The watershed review report will go to the GVRD board on Oct. 2. Wednescay, Septeribe vy 1991 - North Shore News - 3 Young hero Saves four 18-year-old pulls Lynn Valley residents from morning blaze FOUR LYNN Valley residents narrowly escaped an infer- no that destroyed their Saturday. And three of those residents credit the cool-headed action of an 18-year-old aspiring firefighter with saving their lives. Said fire victim Camille David- son, 21, “‘He (neighbor Jason Sadler) was so calm — more so than any of the adults that were around. He had his head screwed on right. He brought a ladder around, checked us out for smoke inhalation, got us over to his parents’ apartment and just took care of us."’ Davidson had been sharing a three-bedroom Emery Village apartment with her sister, Mani- que, 20, Leah Stewart, 23, and Jeff Fix, 21. They had lived there for about ene month. Fire struck just after 3:30 a.m. The blaze began at the apart- ment’s front door. The four occupants awoke to the sound of a smoke alarm. The fact that ail had slept with bedroom doors closed may have saved their lives. It saved them fiom smeke inhalation and bought time to escape from second-storey bedroom windows. Said Davidson, ‘I went out into the hallway and there were Mames in the hallway and there were flames coming out ef the sliding glass windows next to us. There was so much smoke."’ Said Stewart, *‘Once we were out it was just an utter feeling of telief.”’ Sadler, who lives nearby, awoke to the sound of what he thought were people fighting. “L didn't hear, ‘Fire!’ But I ran down the stairs and (then) | heard ‘fire,’ and I came around and 1 saw people at the windows. I ran around to the door and there were flames just shooting out the door. { knew where a ladder was,’’ he said. Emery Flace apartment early By Michael Becker News Reporter Camille Davidson was the last one out of the suite. “The flames were coming right through the bedroom door. It was very close. If Jason hadn't been cali under the pressure...."° Sadler, a St. John Ambulance first-aid attendant, plans to apply to become a firefighter with the North Vancouver District’ Fire Department when he is 21. His uncle, Capt. Chris McBride, is a member of the district fire department. Sadler's grandfather was also a firefighter. The fire victims were not in- sured and lost everything. But said Davidson, ‘I’m very happy to be alive. The material possessions can be replaced. We're very jucky there was somebody there thinking.”’ Added sister Monique David- son, ‘His mom (Sue Reid) helped us too. She had coffee and tea and cigarettes and everything. Jason’s family were wonderful.”” Meanwhile North Vancouver District firefighters were called to the scene at 3:53 a.m. and arrived four minutes later. The fire was out within an hour. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the fire department and the North Vancouver RCMP. Said Stewart, ‘‘They say there was a heated argument out here. | don’t know who or what it was about. The argument woke up a neighbor. They looked out and saw two people out here arguing and our front door open. The chain was still on. When we went to bed it was tocked and chain- ed.”” WY battles Twin Towers developers $3M payment at issue in court WEST VANCOUVER District Council faced Twin Towers developers in court Tuesday to try to settle a dispute over the construction of the second building at the 320 Taylor Way development site. Mayor Mark Sager announced the Tuesday court date Monday night after Capt. George Murrell of the Ambleside Dundurave Ratepayers asked if it were true that Gateway Pacific, the devel- opers of the twin-tower project at the southeast corner of Marine Drive and Taylor Way. were $3 million in arrears in their payment schedule for the lease of the By Maureen Curtis Contributing Writer municipally-owned land. “That,”* said Sager, ‘will be decided by the courts tomerrow.”’ Sager said that certain payments were scheduled to be made once the first building was finished and Seve W. Van pave §