Originally from England and most recently from the District of Central Kootenay, Dave McMahon is the Osoyoos Fire Department’s first full-time fire chief. He started in the newly-created position on July 8. (Vanessa Broadbent / Osoyoos Times)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

For the first time ever, Osoyoos has a full-time, paid fire chief.

Dave McMahon, originally from England, spent his first day in town July 8 meeting with local officials and members of the Osoyoos Fire Department.

“I’m completely honoured, and I’m not just saying that. It’s not just a cliché,” McMahon said.

He and his wife came to Canada after a career in firefighting with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service where he started in 1994, a department responding to around 16,000 calls a year.

“I got lots of experience and it was a great place to build the foundations of my career,” McMahon said.

They decided early on they wanted to relocate to Canada after both had vacationed and visited family prior to living here and arrived after a three-year immigration process.

“There was just an affinity with Canada. We love this country. We’re both now Canadian citizens, we’re both proud Canadians. Even prior to that, it’s hard to explain there was this feeling that this could and should be home,” McMahon said. “We embarked on this journey and it was instantly home. We’ve been here 12 years now.”

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Leaving the career he loved behind, temporarily, was difficult. McMahon ended up living and working at Sun Peaks Resort meeting then Fire Chief Bill Stoner and returned to firefighting as a volunteer.

“It was very difficult to walk away from a fire career and start afresh. Firefighting has been my life. I didn’t want to leave England to leave my job. So for me, my main focus as soon as I got here was getting back into firefighting,” McMahon said.

He instantly volunteered as a firefighter in the Sun Peaks community and was able to get a sense firefighting practices here before requalifying as a Canadian firefighter in just seven months.

McMahon worked with the City of Kamloops for 10 years before relocating to the Regional District of Central Kootenay as deputy fire chief.

Now he takes over the Osoyoos Fire Department with 26 paid on-call firefighters alongside deputy chiefs and a captain. Staffing structure is one of the first line items McMahon is taking on as chief.

With many fire departments in B.C. restructuring around standards created by the province in 2015, McMahon notes they are “minimum standards.”

“My focus is to make sure we are the best that we can be,” McMahon said.

He is looking to the priorities of the town’s fire master plan as a guide including staffing structure and acquiring an air apparatus for multi-storey buildings. All of which, along with response times and other benchmarks, will go towards lowering the insurance rates for the town. In the future, McMahon said the department will explore providing further services as first responders on medical calls.

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Osoyoos presents some unique circumstances from a firefighting perspective including mutual aid work with neighbouring departments, even across the Canada-U.S. border.

“Building that relationship with Oroville is going to be an interesting uniqueness to this location to me, for sure,” McMahon said.

He is also looking to further build relationships with the RCMP and other emergency services in the area including the Osoyoos Indian Band and the Anarchist Mountain Fire Department.

“I’m looking forward to all those aspects of our location. We’re in the middle of wine country here. The Okanagan is exponentially growing, it’s obvious a lot of people globally are attracted to this area for good reason. So, I certainly want to be an ambassador for what we have to offer here and providing the best possible fire service we can,” McMahon said.

McMahon was also quick to praise the work of Ryan McCaskill, who is previously acted as chief and is remaining with the department. The two are working closely to transfer the chiefship of the department over to McMahon.

“I really respect what Ryan brings to the table,” McMahon said.

Outside of the demanding job McMahon is an avid skier, mountain biker and overall outdoorsman.

“Being outside, trying to stay in shape and stay health and just enjoying what’s on offer on our front doorstep,” McMahon said.