After nearly two decades in the position, Lake Country Fire Chief Steve Windsor is just days away from retirement.
Windsor said he knew at a young age he wanted to fight fires, working his way to chief.
“I think probably after I got into Lake Cowichan, I started to move up there. I’d been a captain in central Saanich and I became a deputy fire chief in North Cowichan,” Windsor said. “Myself, and there was another individual there at the time, we were both kind of, ‘hey, that looks like a good career path to move down’. So, he is subsequently a fire chief in Mill Bay on the island and I got the fire chief position here.”
During his many years of service, Windsor is prideful in the new building for Station 71.
“I enjoy, strangely enough, working on budgets. I really enjoy working on new acquisitions, new trucks especially. The municipality basically let us replace the whole fleet since I’ve been here, so we’ve purchased around 13 trucks.”
As he steps back, Windsor hopes to spend more time travelling with his wife.
“I don’t think I’m just going to hang up the keys and walk away and call it a career. I’m definitely looking at some other options that are out there, and with the way things appear in the environment and in nature we look like we’re - maybe not necessarily this year - but long-term we’re probably heading into having issues with wildfires and floods and that. I’m looking at a couple of opportunities that are out there and we’ll see if those come to fruition.”
Windsor noted he is more than happy to help if called upon.
The department is interviewing for a new chief, but are yet to fill the position.
“There’s been a number of positions, fairly senior director and manager positions, in the district they’ve been trying to fill recently. It’s kind of another one in a line-up of positions. I know they’ve had a lot of interest in the position from B.C. and Alberta that I think they’re short-listing fairly quick here and fill that probably by the mid-to-end of May.”
Windsor says he’ll be back to help the new chief get situated.
Congratulations Fire Chief Windsor on your retirement!
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