“Our fire department is so far ahead. I’m so proud of what has been accomplished here,” Lake Cowichan Mayor Ross Forrest told fellow councillors Oct. 3 when reporting on a meeting he’d attended at the Union of BC Municipalities convention recently.
Among the subjects discussed was the need for fire prevention programs to keep communities and neighbourhoods safe.
Forrest said he sat through the entire meeting to hear everything that was discussed and then stood up at the end to tell the group about the success of Lake Cowichan Fire Department’s FireSmart program.
He said that after the meeting, some people came forward and told him that Lake Cowichan’s department was far ahead of the pack in that regard.
Lamp post banners to come down for winter
Lake Cowichan’s lamp post banners will be taken down soon, to preserve them better over the winter.
In the spring, they will be joined by some painted by students at Lake Cowichan School, according to Coun. Carolyne Austin, who has been spearheading that project.
Council has still not decided what to do with the Canada 150 banners. There was talk earlier of auctioning them off, if there is enough interest from the community.
‘Not a cheap fix’ for accidental crushing
Work to improve the Lake Cowichan boat launch has started but some unforeseen problems have emerged as a piece of heavy equipment used to carry and place concrete slabs crushed some of the existing concrete.
Works superintendent Nagi Rizk said he didn’t think much more could be done on the project this year.
He suggested that council would need to talk about it at budget time.
“This would have to go into the budget. It’s not a cheap fix,” he said.