Robin Williams

Stands elected to the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District Board of Trustees by acclamation
for a three (3) year term of office to commence at the end of the Annual General Meeting which
will be held on April 14, 2025 and terminate at the end of the Annual General meeting to be held
in the year 2028.

One additional Trustee position is to be filled through a nomination and election process at dates
which will be announced.

Dated March 3, 2025
Anthony A. Kennedy
295 Mountain Park Drive
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1G3
Home phone: 250-537-8815 Cell Phone: 1-647-284-2900

Trustee Positions

The Trustee positions are for a three-year term commencing at the end of the Annual General Meeting to be held on Monday,
April 14, 2025 and terminating at the end of the Annual General Meeting to be held in the year 2028.

Nomination Process

Nomination forms may be obtained on the Salt Spring Fire Rescue website https://saltspringfire.com/ or at the Ganges Fire
Hall, 105 Lower Ganges Road between 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, February 5, 2025 and 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 2025.

Qualified candidates must be nominated by two qualified electors of the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District.

Completed nomination forms must be received by 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 27, 2025.

Qualifications for Voting and Nominating

You are qualified to serve as a Trustee, nominate Trustees, and vote as an Elector if you are:

1. A Canadian Citizen;
2. Eighteen (18) years of age or older by April 12, 2025;
3. A resident of British Columbia for at least six months prior to election day;
4. A registered owner of land located within the boundaries of the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District, or the authorized
   agent, or legal representative of a deceased owner of such land;
5. Not otherwise disqualified under section 29 of the Election Act;
6. Have not voted before in the same election; and
7. Each corporation or society that owns land within the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District has one vote and must
   designate, in writing, a person to vote on its behalf. That person can also be an owner of other property in the Salt Spring
   Island Fire Protection District. If so, that person could vote twice, once on their own behalf as a landowner and as the agent
   authorized on behalf of the land-owning corporation or society. Details of the documentation required for corporations or
   societies wishing to vote will be available during the nominating/voting period from the Ganges fire hall.

Questions on the nominating process and voting as a registered landowner or documentation required to vote as an agent of
a Board or Corporation, may be directed to the Returning Officer.

Dated at Salt Spring Island, B.C. this 1st day of February 2025.

Anthony A. Kennedy, Returning Officer
295 Mountain Park Drive
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1G3
Home phone: 250-537-8815 Cell phone: 1-647-284-2900

Trustee Nomination Forms

• Trustee Nomination form (PDF)
• ONLINE Trustee Nomination Form

Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3 open fires will be prohibited on Salt Spring Island and throughout the Coastal Fire Centre’s jurisdiction. This prohibition will be in place until October 31, 2024, at 12:00 noon Pacific Daylight Time, or until the order is rescinded.
Specifically, this prohibition refers to the following activities as defined in the Wildfire Regulation:

• Category 1 campfires as defined in the Wildfire Regulation;
• Category 2 open fire as defined in the Wildfire Regulation; and,
• Category 3 open fire as defined in the Wildfire Regulation.

In addition to campfires and open fires being prohibited, the following activities and equipment are also restricted:

• Fireworks;
• Sky Lanterns;
• Burn Barrels or Burn Cages of any size or description;
• Binary Exploding Targets;
• Air curtain burners;
• Tiki and similar kind of torches; and,
• Chimineas

This prohibition does not include the use of outdoor stoves. As per the Wildfire Regulation, an outdoor stove is a CSA-rated or ULC-rated device used outdoors for cooking, heat or ambiance that burns charcoal briquettes, liquid fuel or gaseous fuel, and has a flame height that is less than 15 cm tall.

Anyone who lights, fuels or uses an open fire when a fire prohibition is in place or fails to comply with an open fire prohibition may be issued a ticket for $1,150 or, if convicted in court, be fined up to $100,000 and/or sentenced to one year in jail. If the contravention causes or contributes to a wildfire, the person responsible may be subject to a penalty of up to $100,000 and ordered to pay all firefighting and associated costs.

To report a wildfire, call 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555 on a cell phone. For the latest information on current wildfire activity, burning restrictions, road closures and air quality advisories, go to: http://www.bcwildfire.ca

Our thoughts go out to his family and loved ones.

Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Peat has advised the Board of Trustees of his intention to resign effective April 7, 2022, two months earlier than originally anticipated.

CAO Peat came out of retirement in the fall of 2020 to assist the Fire District, and we are grateful for his 6+ years of service between his two tenures here. CAO Peat assisted with the final stages of collective bargaining and preparing the groundwork for the New Fire Hall Project.

As circumstances and his health permits, Mr. Peat has agreed to assist in the transition to a new full time CAO. The CAO Succession and Recruitment Committee, with support from the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association, has the hiring process for his replacement well underway.

In the interim period until the new CAO is onboard, Fire Chief Jamie Holmes will step up and be Acting Corporate Administrator and Financial Officer.

We wish Mr. Peat the very best in well-deserved retirement and we thank him for his service to the Fire District and our community. He will always be a member of the Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue family.

Roland Cook, Chair
Board of Trustees
Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District

Chief Holmes has achieved 25 years of exemplary service since joining the department in 1996 as a Paid-on-Call Volunteer. He Joined the career ranks in 2002 and ascended to Deputy Chief in April 2021. Recently, Chief Holmes was awarded the British Columbia Training Officer Association Meritorious Service Medal for his decade of executive service to the association.

During his 15-year tenure as training officer, our department successfully trained many volunteer Firefighters that went on to become career professionals, both here and in other departments across the country. Chief Holmes set a benchmark that members be trained to the NFPA 1001 standard, which ensures we have a highly trained professional membership here on Salt Spring and provides members with an internationally recognized accreditation.

Chief Holmes brings decades of labour experience and negotiation skills to his new role. The Board of Trustees is fortunate to have Chief Holmes on their management team. We are grateful for his continued service to our community. The future of emergency services on Salt Spring Island is in excellent hands.

Please join me in congratulating Chief Holmes on his appointment and thanking him for stepping up to fill the role.

Per Svendsen
Chair, Board of Trustees

Victoria, BC- The Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District (Fire District) and the Capital Regional District (CRD) have agreed to establish a joint working group to make recommendations to their respective organizations regarding both a new public safety building incorporating a CRD Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) as well as the repurposing of the existing Ganges Fire Hall.

Currently, both the existing CRD Emergency Centre and the Ganges Fire Hall are in buildings which are seismically unsound, provide inadequate storage and fail to meet Workman’s Compensation Board standards for both employee and volunteer safety.

“While the Ganges Fire Hall will no longer be used for its original purpose, this centrally located downtown property still holds significant value,” said Fire Board Chair Per Svendsen. “It will be kept as a public asset and redeveloped so that the community can continue to benefit from this location. Sale proceeds will go towards the Fire District’s longstanding goal of building a new, “work safe”, fire hall that meets all modern regulatory standards.”

CRD Director Gary Holman stated, “By working together, we can achieve, more cost effectively, the building of a new public safety building that includes a co-located EOC, as well as retain the existing fire hall and site as important public assets in the centre of Ganges.”

New Fire Hall/ Public Safety Building

The Fire Board and the CRD will work together on the development of a new facility at 55 Lower Ganges Rd., near Brinkworthy, on land donated to the Fire District in 2013. It is centrally located and provides adequate space for both a new fire hall and Emergency Operations Centre and offers much improved vehicle access and parking space. Design and cost sharing terms for the shared space are now under negotiation.

Existing Ganges Fire Hall

The Fire District will grant the CRD an option to purchase or lease the Ganges Fire Hall site for fair market value, with the price and other terms of purchase to be negotiated. If the site is purchased by the CRD, it will most likely be re-purposed with a focus on a public food market and related uses.

For more information on how the CRD and the Salt Spring Island Fire Protection District will work together on this initiative please review the Memo of Understanding.

June 19, 2017 Press Release