NEW STATION FUNDRAISING & UPDATES

You may have noticed a new sign in front of our hall and wondered, “Why do they need a new fire hall? It looks fine from the outside.”

The truth is, while our current station may look fine from the road, it no longer meets the needs of a growing community or the demands of modern firefighting.

We have begun fundraising for a future fire station because we believe that as the Town of Stewiacke and surrounding communities grow, our emergency services must grow with them.

So, why do we need a new station?

We have outgrown our current station.

This is both a good and a bad thing. We are fortunate to have a strong and growing membership, but physically, we do not have room for additional members. At major incidents, there are still times when having more firefighters available would make a difference. Being limited by the size of our station should never prevent us from growing our membership.

Part of our building serves the community centre.

A portion of the building is used by the community centre upstairs, which is completely separate from the fire department and is not managed or organized by our department. However, the fire department's space houses the electrical and heating equipment that services that area, further reducing the space available to us.

Our apparatus bays are too small.

Our doors are significantly smaller than those found in many modern fire stations. This limits the height of the trucks we can operate and, in some cases, even prevents our mutual aid partners from putting their apparatus inside our station when they are covering our area.

We are therefore forced to purchase shorter and longer apparatus, which reduces usable space inside the trucks.

Inside the station, the space between our trucks and members' gear lockers is extremely limited. When one member is preparing for a call and another needs to pass by, the member getting ready often has to stop and move. During an emergency response, even small delays can matter.

Our PPE is stored in the same area as our trucks.

Modern fire stations separate personal protective equipment from apparatus whenever possible. Our current setup means our gear is exposed to contaminants from our trucks and the station environment, increasing the potential for those contaminants to be transferred onto our firefighters.

Our station is not accessibility-friendly.

Essential facilities, including washrooms, are located upstairs. This makes it difficult to safely and appropriately host members of the public for tours, open houses, fire prevention activities, and other community events.

We don't have an appropriate post-incident decontamination area.

Our current station has no showers and no practical space to install them. This means firefighters returning from incidents where they have been exposed to carcinogens and other harmful contaminants have limited options for cleaning themselves before returning home.

We should not have to wash those contaminants off in the same showers and bathtubs where we bathe our families and children.

Firefighting is changing

When our current station was built, many of the challenges firefighters face today simply did not exist.

There were no electric vehicles or widespread EV charging stations. Solar panels and hybrid vehicles were not common. Traffic volumes have increased, technology has changed, and the construction of modern homes has evolved.

Fires today can develop and spread faster than they did in many older homes.

As technology and our communities change, so must our equipment, training, membership, and facilities.

A new fire station isn't simply about having a newer building.

It is about creating a facility that allows our members to train, respond, operate, decontaminate, and serve our community as safely and effectively as possible for decades to come.

Planning for the Future

On April 27, 2023, April 10, 2025, and April 23, 2026, we presented to Stewiacke Town Council and outlined our 5–10 year plan, including the reasons why a new fire station will be necessary.

In June 2026, a report was submitted to Council requesting that the land in front of our current station be designated as the site for our future fire station.

We have also hired an architect to study our current station and compare it with fire stations serving communities with similar geographic areas, populations, and call volumes.

The results were eye-opening.

Our storage and operational space for members' gear, equipment, and apparatus is considerably smaller than the stations we were compared with.

Building for the future

We are beginning our fundraising efforts now because planning and building a new fire station is a long-term process.

Our goal is to ensure that the Stewiacke & District Volunteer Fire Department is prepared to effectively, efficiently, and safely serve the Town of Stewiacke and the County of Colchester for generations to come.

We are proud of the service our members provide to this community, and we are committed to building on that tradition.

Thank you for your continued support as we work toward building a safer and stronger future for our community.

To contribute - please email donations@stewiackefire.ca or contact@stewiackefire.ca