AUGUST 2026 today.” The Mount Washington project broke ground in June 2026 and is expected to be completed in November 2026. Even at the foundation stage, the challenges of building at elevation have made themselves known – the crew encountered a boulder too large to work around during excavation, requiring jackhammering before construction could continue. Getting concrete to the site, 30 kilometres up a mountain road, adds both complexity and cost to every pour. Once complete, the new station will transform fire response on the mountain. Currently, an engine is staged outside through the summer months but must come down each winter due to freezing temperatures. Currently there is a small crew of firefighters that reside on the mountain, with additional members brought up from Oyster River when needed. It’s an improvised solution while waiting for a fire hall. “Now we’re going to be able to have that engine up on the hill all the time,” Bruce says. “We’re going to have equipment on the hill all the time, and we’re going to be able to respond more rapidly to any emergency situation up there.” For Bruce, both projects are part of the same larger mission – giving the volunteers who staff the CVRD’s fire departments the tools and facilities they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. “The Comox Valley Regional District fire services have an exceptional group of volunteers providing service across all of our fire departments,” he says. “It’s important for me, as the person overseeing all of that, to provide them the equipment and the buildings to do that safely and effectively for the community. If we have that, the community is going to feel safer – and that’s going to make the whole environment and living within that community a better place to be. Overall public safety is the main drive behind all of this.”
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