Current Roster Strength Of Rural Volunteer Fire Departments Released By Cariboo Regional District

The Cariboo Regional District released a current roster strength of a number of rural Volunteer Fire Departments due to the vaccine mandate.

In a released roster, it shows there are 285 firefighters on the roster after the mandate from around the district down from 374 before the mandate

“All fire halls currently have enough members to respond to fires”, Cariboo Regional District Chair Margo Wagner said, “We have mutual aid in place as we always do with the fire departments and their respective municipalities that are close to them.”

Of the 14 Volunteer Fire Departments that were listed, Bouchie Lake and Forest Grove have not seen a change in their members level, and Central Cariboo Search and Rescue have also remained the same.

“I want the public to understand that the numbers we currently have are sufficient to maintain our fire departments and that their properties are protected within a boundary of a Cariboo Regional District Fire Service,” Wagner said.

Wagner added that the Protective Services Department of the Cariboo Regional District is going to work with some of the departments that have a fairly large influx of new members to get their training done in a timely fashion, staff will be assisting the various departments with that to make sure that they are trained as quickly as possible.

In the CRD’s release, it stated “We understand and respect their decision and thank all volunteer firefighters, regardless of their vaccination status, the important work they do. The majority of volunteer firefighters in the CRD have now met the vaccination requirement. All volunteer halls are ready to respond to emergency call-outs.”

The roster as of January 27, 2022 can be found on the CRD website.