Manned by an all volunteer force of 28 members, the station is filled with at least seven pieces of active apparatus and possibly their parade truck, the 1953 Bickle Seagrave pumper. The department's website contains no information on the size of the force nor the number of calls responded to each year.
However, in January of 2012, when the Invermere Fire Service celebrated its 60th anniversary
Happy 60th, Invermere Fire Service!
Posted in News on January 20th, 2012 by Kate Irwin
The Invermere Fire Service and its 28 members are celebrating six decades of service to the community, as the department turns 60 this year. Established in 1952, with around eight members, the fire department was created within a year of Invermere’s incorporation as a village in May 1951.
After two fires destroyed buildings in the newly-formed village, a group of residents with no previous experience fighting fires gathered together to discuss creating a volunteer fire department.
The Village of Invermere purchased their new firefighting team a secondhand 1931 International Open Cab fire truck, which Gordon recalled, “Most of the guys didn’t want to ride in because of the open top, so they’d often drive to the fire instead.”
Everybody was trained to start the vehicle and the most important task, how to prime the pump. A second vehicle, a 1941 International truck, this time with an enclosed cab, followed as soon as the village had the money to purchase it.
Early fire practices consisted of the crew hauling hoses up ladders placed up the outside of the small fire department building, still standing near the current site.
The early years were quiet, with few calls and small grass and structural fires to deal with. Along with firefighting in Invermere, the department’s duties included assisting with forest fires in the summer months.
The department’s numbers swelled somewhat in 1967 when the Athalmer Fire Department, formed in 1964, merged with them.
The first severe blaze in town that Gordon recalls the department tackling was at the Athalmer Coronation Hotel in the winter of 1968/69.
When firefighters arrived, the building was engulfed in flames. With no hookup for water available, they had to get creative to find a source to douse the flames...
...The siren that used to alert crews to a fire has been replaced with pagers and cellular phones, and within 10 minutes of a call coming in, firefighters must have made it to the fire hall, changed and be loaded and on their way. At the conclusion of my visit to the fire hall, I get to witness this system in action.
An alert blares on the radio that an accident has happened on the road near Edgewater. Single vehicle — extraction may be needed. Within seconds, firefighters are on their radios announcing that they are on their way and within one minute of the call coming in, the first of them is through the door, dressed and ready to go.
More pour in and three or four minutes later the rescue truck is rolling out of the door with its crew of seven on board. As it bowls towards the traffic lights with sirens and lights blaring, I’m amazed at how quietly, quickly and smoothly everything has taken place.
Like a well-oiled machine, the firefighters demonstrated that all the hours spent practising, certifying and studying pay off. In their line of work, those crucial few minutes can help to save a life.
Long may their efforts continue.
From the Columbia Valley Pioneer