About Us – LCFD

Lake Cowichan is situated beside the beautiful Cowichan River.  Cowichan Lake is the second largest lake on Vancouver Island, and is 34 km in length and in some areas over 500 feet deep. The Fire Department is a group of committed and dedicated individuals who possess strong social traits and a desire to help their community by offering fire protection and related services in the Lake Cowichan and surrounding areas. The department is served by 32 firefighters who operates under the direction of the Fire Chief, who then reports to the Mayor and Town Council.

All 911 calls are routed to the Nanaimo RCMP 911 center in Nanaimo where the call is screened to determine the service required (Police, Fire or Ambulance) before being forwarded to FireComm Dispatch Centre in Nanaimo, BC, FireComm will then dispatch LCFD members by alerting their personal pagers and setting off the towns air-raid siren.

History of the Lake Cowichan Fire Department

The Lake Cowichan Fire Department has been in service for 64 years and provides Fire Protection, Ambulance assistance and provides rescue service in an area covering 17 kilometers in length. In addition to protecting the Town itself, the Town of Lake Cowichan Fire Department protects all areas from Meades Creek to Skutz Falls in a service agreement with the Cowichan Valley Regional District (CVRD). We also have Mutual Aid agreements with our neighboring Fire Departments, BC Ambulance Service and BC Ministry of Forests.

The Lake Cowichan Fire Department maintains a high profile in the community, the department was formed in 1947. Prior to 1947 fires were fought by a loosly organized group, they were equipped with a World War 2 ARP pump (Air Raid Protection Unit) and 200 feet of hose that could pump water from the lake or river.

In 1958 the department moved to a 3 Bay fire hall located on Southshore road the hall was also home to the Town office and Lake Cowichan and District Ambulance Service. In 2004 The Lake Cowichan Fire Department move to a state of the art 6 Bay emergency services building.