Kootenay Boundary Fire Rescue won’t add a second deputy regional fire chief this year after a Regional District of Kootenay Boundary committee voted against the expenditure.
Fruitvale’s Bill Wenman, who chairs the committee made up of directors from Greater Trail, explained in an interview that extra requirements to manage each fire hall has resulted in heavier workloads.
Presently the fire hall in Trail has a chief, deputy chief, and four shifts of career firefighters. The same chief also oversees fire halls in Rossland, Warfield, Montrose, Fruitvale, and Genelle that are staffed by paid-on-call volunteers.
The regional chief is further responsible for 911 and emergency preparedness, which are district-wide services.
Wenman said one proposal was to put all of the region’s fire halls, including those in the Boundary, under the command of the Trail-based regional chief and hire another deputy to pick up the slack.
However, with Greater Trail municipalities facing a 9.6 per cent tax increase for fire service, the issue proved contentious.
“There was a lot of discussion for and against, mostly against any further increases in taxes this year,” Wenman said.
“It’s a hard road because two of the major contributors, Trail and Rossland, are being hit pretty hard with the new liquid liquid waste management plan that’s coming on board. And those two cities are big participants in the fire hall services.”
Wenman said he believes the amount locals pay for fire service is reasonable, at a cost of about $355 per year for a home assessed at $500,000.
The addition of a second deputy chief was expected to add between two and four per cent to the overall budget, Wenman said.
Directors voted 5-2 against creating the position.
Call volumes slowing slightly
Meanwhile, Kootenay Boundary Fire Rescue’s call volumes have fallen a bit since January, but remain much higher than last year.
Chief Dan Derby said in an email that the number of calls in the first two months of 2026 was up 75 per cent over the same time last year. There were 510 calls in January and February, compared to 292 calls during those months in 2025.
“This was driven by mental health and addictions/overdose related incidents,” Derby said. “This increase in call volume was across many call types with fires, motor vehicle incidents and rescues.”
Derby said the call volume in March has dropped to levels consisted with the last few years.
Derby previously called the start to the year “unprecedented,” with nearly 200 calls in January, which was almost twice as many as in the same month of 2025.
