Volume 17 Issue 11

VOLUME 17 ISSUE 11 NOVEMBER 1 — 29, 2019

TAXI SERVICE RETURNS PAGE 4

YOURS FREE TO TAKE HOME

SUNPEAKSNEWS.COM // @SUNPEAKSNEWS

TENSION GROWS OVER CARIBOU HABITAT PAGE 10

ABOVE: CANNON AT THE SUN PEAKS FIREHALL THIS FALL. RIGHT: CANNON TRAINING AND AT WORK WITH COLLEAGUES THROUGHOUT THE YEARS. Photos Supplied

Cannon retires as SPFR chief From midnight calls to family time JEAN STRONG

IN THE SPRING OF 1997 A SNOWSHOE GUIDE JOINED SUN PEAKS FIRE RESCUE (SPFR) AS A VOLUNTEER. HE HAD NO EXPERIENCE, JUST MOVED TO

THE COMMUNITY AND SPENT THE WINTER PACKING DOWN A FEW TRAILS AND TAKING GUESTS OUT. Looking for a way to get involved and give back to the community he signed up. His first few calls turned into nine years volunteering, eight years as a career prevention officer, five years as chief and, as of Dec. 1, 2019, retiring as chief to

spend time with his family. Colin Cannon continued to operate snowshoe tours and rentals while volunteering and eventually making a career at the department. As a new recruit he remembered being called to a lodge where guests had placed a presto log in a gas fireplace and getting hooked. “I was walking home and the page

came and I remember running home to my car then getting geared up and going to that call...the room was filled with smoke. They had tried to take the log outside, but of course once they are burning it falls apart so there was log everywhere and fire dropping. “I just remember the craziness of this is what we get to deal with... the fire department has a good adrenaline rush.” When he first arrived he was one of 10 volunteers and the hall had just been built. Over the years that number grew and eventually as

chief he and two career captains managed and trained around 30 volunteers and ran an annual sixmonth work experience program highly regarded across the province. Cannon said some of the accomplishments he’s most proud of are creating an inclusive environment that is conducive to high volunteer numbers and working as a team with the captains instead of taking a top-down management style.