The small Vancouver Island community of Gold River has an adequately staffed volunteer fire department once again.
Gold River village council unanimously agreed to terminate fire chief Lisa Illes on Friday, causing a wave of firefighters to resign from the department.
However, Mayor Brad Unger told CHEK News on Tuesday that the majority of those who resigned have since returned to the department.
“There is almost full membership back in the fire hall,” he said. “Rest assured, we are looked after.”
It’s unclear why Illes was fired but Unger said the move wasn’t a hasty one.
“It was not done on a whim,” he said. “It was a long process between council and staff and reports and discussions.”
Those discussions also included the village obtaining a legal opinion from its own legal counsel. Unger said he couldn’t discuss the exact reason behind the decision to let Illes go due to privacy but confirmed she was fired with cause.
“Our bylaw states that the only way the fire chief can be relieved of their position is with cause, so with lengthy reports, lengthy discussions over a long period of time, council had to make the unfortunate decision to relieve the chief of her position,” he said.
Illes’ termination resulted in firefighters expressing their frustration over the department’s Facebook page, posting that the “vast majority” of them have decided to quit — sparking safety concerns from within the community about whether Gold River had adequate protection. It also prompted a visit from the province’s fire commissioner on Saturday.
Unger called the entire situation unfortunate.
“I know the former chief and her family is affected by this. The Gold River Fire Department is affected by this, mayor and council are affected by this, we are all affected by this,” he said, adding. “It’s unfortunate that this happened but all we can do is as council is say to our residents that we are here for you.”
A spokesperson with Emergency Management B.C. told CHEK News in an e-mailed statement that Gold River currently has an adequate number of fully trained firefighters to safely attend calls for service and that the Office of the Fire Commissioner is working with the village government and firefighters to “maintain public safety.”
John McPherson has been named as interim chief of the department and the City of Campbell River has agreed to provide operational support to the Gold River, should the village require it.
CHEK has reached out to Illes for comment.
Nicholas Pescod
