If you’re willing to make 100 Mile Fire Rescue your third priority in life, Fire Chief Roger Hollander wants you.

100 Mile Fire Rescue is holding its annual recruitment drive until the end of February and Hollander is hoping more people will join the current 25-member crew. He expects those who do must be willing to put their family first, full-time work second and commitment to the fire department third, he said.

“(We’re a) pretty resilient group of folks,” Hollander said. “It’s a great group of men and women that we have on the department.”

Although the department accepts applications for the department all year round, Hollander said they actively recruit in February to tie in with their training schedules. Typically they look for community-minded people who live in the 100 Mile Fire Rescue’s Fire Protection area and meet certain criteria such as being at least 18 years old and in good health with no criminal record. They should also possess a class five driver’s licence and a Grade 12 diploma.

The recruitment drive seeks to fill paid volunteer part-time positions, which offer on-call crew members between $15-$26 an hour, depending on seniority and experience.

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All training will be provided by the fire department. Those who are accepted will go through two months of basic training before they start to respond to incidents, after which they will take part in training once a week to once a month and be issued a pager.

“Training never stops while you’re here,” Hollander remarked. “It just continues to progress.”

The job is more than extinguishing fires and responding to car crashes. In a regular year without a pandemic, his team will attend and host community events, visit schools to give public safety talks and conduct fire safety inspections of local businesses. Recruits can use the skills they learn throughout their lives.

Interest has been up overall this year with their campaign receiving up to 15 applicants so far. Hollander said he hopes to add at least seven members to the team as a result of the drive and welcomes anyone to make the leap and apply.

To him, the real value of being a member of the team is the camaraderie and chance to meet like-minded people.

“It’s an exciting adventure and it’s a nice chance to give back to the community.”

Applicants can apply by reaching out to Hollander at rhollander@100milehouse.com or by checking out 100 Mile House Fire-Rescue on Facebook or their website 100milefire.com.

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