Mothers, lock up your daughters. While One Direction won’t be touring in Sun Peaks any time soon, Sun Peaks Fire and Rescue has just recruited five new volunteer firefighters for the community.
The new recruits — Ryan McQueen, Conrad Gallagher, Connor Jamieson, John Bateman and Derek Hall — come as part of the Work Experience Program (WEP), a long-running initiative that brings newly graduated firefighters to live, work and train in Sun Peaks for a six month period.
Chief Colin Cannon said the recruits are all fully qualified, professional firefighters, who now need hands-on experience working in a fire hall to give them the edge when applying for jobs down the line.
“The Vancouver Fire Department gets something like 700 to 800 applications each year, and one of the things that’ll help set you apart from the herd is experience,” Cannon said.
“There’s a value in what we provide to them, but there’s also a value in what they provide to us.
“A number of our regular volunteers leave during winter, so they fill that gap beautifully, and they allow us to maintain the standard of the service we provide to the community.”
While the new recruits have only just arrived, they’ve already been put to work in the community service side of things. Once they’d settled into their new surroundings, they got to work giving the tennis courts a high-pressure hose down, getting them in top shape for summer.
McQueen and Hall already have some familiarity with the area. McQueen grew up in Kamloops, while Hall moved to Whitecroft last year and started volunteering at the fire hall over winter.
The other firefighters are looking forward to the change in location, growing up around Vancouver and Surrey.
“I’m really excited,” said Gallagher. He found out about WEP while waiting for a flight at the Kamloops airport about two years ago, and applied as soon as he finished his training. “Sun Peaks is a beautiful place and I’m really looking forward to spending my days off hiking, biking and checking out the events on over summer.”
Jamieson said he likes the idea of living in a small community. “I’ve only been here three days but it’s a really friendly place. I’m looking forward to helping out at the events and being outdoors a lot more.”
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