The Mesachie Lake Volunteer Fire Department could be back in operation within days.
Jon Lefebure, chairman of the Cowichan Valley Regional District, said staff are working to have the fire hall functioning again “as soon as possible”.
He said long-time chief Gary Eve and deputy chief Owen Robertson won’t be part of the crew when the fire department reopens, but the rest of the volunteer fire fighters will be allowed to return to their duties.
“We still can’t refer to the status of Eve or Roberston at this time as it’s a personnel matter, but we hope to provide more information to the public on that by next week,” Lefebure said.
“There’s nothing to prevent the rest of the firefighters from continuing on with their work.”
Last week, the CVRD announced that the Mesachie Lake fire department would be put on an “operational pause” as of Jan. 24.
The CVRD said in a press release that the purpose of the pause is to allow an independent consultant to conduct a third-party review of the department.
The review will include an assessment of the department’s equipment, building, and operations to ensure safety for Mesachie Lake residents, now and into the future, according to the release.
Both Eve and Robertson received letters at the same time from the CVRD stating their positions have been terminated, but provided no explanations.
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The third-party review is expected to be completed in the spring with a report being provided to the CVRD’s board for its consideration.
But last week’s press release provided no time lines as to when the fire department would be operational again, other than to say Mesachie Lake would continue to receive full and uninterrupted fire protection from adjacent fire departments in the Cowichan Lake area while the operational pause is in place.
Many in the Mesachie Lake area complained about the issue and raised safety concerns, but Lefebure said moves to quickly reopen the fire department are not directly related to that.
“The concerns expressed by citizens are understood, but this isn’t happening just because of that,” he said.
“The fire department has been serving the Mesachie Lake community for more than five decades and the CVRD wouldn’t support it if we didn’t think it was important.”
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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