The Lakeshore Fire Department is looking for some good volunteers.
The service is currently recruiting paid, on-call volunteer firefighters to help staff its five fire stations across the municipality.
The department currently has 81 volunteer firefighters on staff but hopes to add around 15 to 19 more.
Lakeshore Fire Chief Jason Suchiu says they typically do hire every few years, and right now they have some upcoming needs at all their stations, hoping to fill 3 to 4 volunteer positions per station.
Suchiu says they have some long-serving members and need to address spaces opened by some who recently left and some potential retirements over the coming years.
He's hoping to find people who are committed and want to serve.
"Somebody who wants to be part of a team atmosphere. We're very much a team and family-oriented group. So somebody who wants to be out in the community, helping out at emergencies, helping out with public education, and helping out with community events. So it's really somebody who's very forward-facing and wants to be involved in the community," he says.
"They go through the provincial standards to become certified, and that certification is recognized across the province of Ontario, and that commitment is approximately 200 hours in the first year. It takes around 12 to 15 months to get somebody completely certified," he says.
The latest recruitment comes as call volumes are increasing.
Suchiu says they're pushing around 900 calls between all the stations for this year, compared to just 500 three or four years ago, in part due to population growth in the municipality and the amount of traffic moving through the community that contributes to the number of accidents they respond to each year.
Interested volunteers must live in the area they're applying to so they can provide a timely response to the nearest fire station.
To apply, review the Volunteer Firefighter Information Package online at Lakeshore.ca/FireRecruits
Recruitment is now open until December 19, 2025.