In March of this year, the community voted for a tax funded Fire Service at Apex. We thank you again for your overwhelming vote of support for this initiative. This would not have been possible without help and support from Director Monteith, the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) staff, Apex Mountain Resort, Apex Matters, and the Apex Fire Brigade Society Board of Directors – thank you all.


Firstly, we have had some inquiries as to why insurance rates remain unchanged after a positive vote. Funding for the Fire Service does not kick in until 2022; therefore, we are presently unable to apply for the required FUS rating that should positively affect insurance rates – we expect this to happen early in the new year- as soon as we have access to the operational funding and have been certified as an RDOS Fire Service.


We have a lot of work to do, but are well on our way. Even though funding for the Fire Service, future Fire Station, and replacement Fire Engine won’t be available until the New Year, it does not mean we have been sitting on our hands. The process moving forward is lengthy and we have already been busy getting our ducks in a row, so we are ready to hit the ground running come January.


We are currently working closely with the RDOS team to secure an adequate land solution for the Apex Fire Station – that process is well underway. Meanwhile, our Fire Rescue Building Advisory Committee is working on space planning for the new Fire Station. The information from this will be provided to the design professionals as soon as there is funding in place. We are sure that more pieces of the “building” process will fall into place soon. Parallel to the Firehall process, we are also researching and planning for the most appropriate and cost-effective replacement
Fire Engine solution. Follow us on our webpage, through Apex Matters and on social media to stay up to date. We will be posting more regular updates as soon we can confirm information.


Despite Covid restrictions, Apex Fire Rescue has had a busy summer. We kicked the spring off with wildland fire training, hosted the Wildfire Community Preparedness Day on July 11, continued with training sessions – twice monthly, secured a Medical First Responder agreement with the BC Ambulance Service, expanded the FireSmart Neighborhood Recognition Program with the addition of the Whitetail neighborhood, ramped up the FireSmart Home Partners Wildfire Property Assessment Program and kicked off a free wildfire hazard reduction yard clean-up and chipping program for property owners who are aged 65 years and older. Our Fire Engine and three firefighters were also placed on standby with BC Wildfire Service at the height of wildfire season, and some of our members were deployed on wildfire assignments across the province.


There will be more detail and updates about all of our programs in upcoming issues. In the meantime, we are moving into our Exterior/Interior Firefighting and Medical First Responder Fall Training Program and are always looking for and welcome any new interested members. If you are interested in being a firefighter, or helping out (at any level), please visit www.apexfirerescue.ca/ join-apex-fire-rescue/ and complete an online application, or email info@apexfirerescue.ca for more information.