For the first time in Sunshine Coast history, there is now fire protection coverage for all accessible areas.
Community members gathered 150 strong for the official opening of the Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday, June 20.
The fire department will cover the village of Egmont and the surrounding eight kilometres including Ruby Lake and the north end of Sakinaw Lake, what former regional district director John Rees called the "missing link" in fire protection on the Coast, when he spoke at the opening ceremony.
The move to get the department built began under Rees' watch while he was the director for Area A.
"When I was first elected in 2002 I spoke with some of the folks here and I asked, 'what do you need here?' The first thing they said was they needed a fire department," Rees said. "We started an advisory group and from there we moved on to do a public survey opinion. There was 100 per cent approval. That was the trigger."
Each of the presenters at the ceremony paid steep praise to the donors and volunteers who worked on the committee and invested labour into the building of the department.
In his opening address, John Duggan, master of ceremonies and a volunteer firefighter with the department, said: "Today we are recognizing what is an admirable trait in human beings and one that is widely recognized, I think, as being distinctly Canadian - and that's the art of what I call volunteerism."
Peter Sly, chief of the new department, said, without volunteers and donations, the fire hall could have never been.
"We built this fire hall with volunteer labour and a lot of donations for about $130,000 and it's assessed at about $600,000 so the citizens of Egmont got a real bargain on their fire hall," Sly said.
Land for the department, on Egmont Road, was donated by the family of Dean Bosch, owner of Bosch Contracting.
In the silence while attendees waited for the ribbon cutting, the dispatch radio squawked and a message went out:"The Egmont and District Volunteer Fire Department is now open," it said.
Bosch's daughter Halle was on hand to cut the ceremonial ribbon with a firefighter's axe.
Following the ceremony, guests were treated to barbecued salmon, burgers and sausages and demonstrations by department volunteers.
Eric Graham, director for Area A, was thrilled with the event and what it means for the residents of Egmont.
"I think it was a fantastic turnout," he said. "They'll be able to feel safer with a fire department now. Instead of standing there and watching their house burn down, there's a chance now that they will be saved."
