Comox Fire Rescue held its annual awards night on Saturday, Nov. 26.

This was the first in-person banquet and presentation since 2019 due to the pandemic restrictions.

The department continued its tradition of recognizing members for various contributions to the local fire department.

Captain Rob Stevens was presented his provincial 25-year medal and Lt. Ron Barrow was presented his federal 20-year medal, while Lt. Elsa Gilroy was recognized for her 10 years of service.

Other award recipients included Tammy Blair and Leif Lefevre who were both honoured for 鈥淩ookies of the Year鈥� for 2022, and Nick Gilroy and Josh Tadeson were recognized for the 2021 year.

Firefighter Ryan Chittle was awarded the 鈥淔irefighter of the Year鈥� for 2022 and Elie Dewulf for 2021.

The 鈥淚 Made a Difference鈥� award went to firefighters Sacha Scott (2022) and Brent Craven (2021).

The 鈥淜evin Kimler Memorial Award鈥� titled 鈥淎bove and Beyond鈥� went to firefighters Andrew Pisano (2022) and Else Gilroy (2021).

The department also recognized Capt. Pascal Lafreniere for completing Fire Officer level 4 and Lt. Brent Craven for Fire Officer level 2.

鈥淚鈥檓 so proud of all our members,鈥� said Comox Fire Chief, Gord Schreiner. 鈥淚t takes a very special person to volunteer for anything, let alone to be a firefighter and an even better person to serve for many, many years. We are demanding of our firefighters and expect an extremely high level of training and effectiveness for them. We are fortunate, here in Comox, to have such a great group of firefighters assisting our community in so many ways.鈥�

Comox Fire Rescue has six-full time and 50 highly trained part-time members. They provide most of the services typical of a larger fire department and will respond to over 900 emergency incidents this year.

For more information about Comox Fire Rescue and some photos from the evening, visit

Comox Fire Rescue provides a variety of preventive and emergency services to a population of approximately 23,000 in an area of 16 square miles. This includes the town of Comox, the Comox Fire Protection Improvement District, the K鈥櫭砿oks First Nation, and the Bates Huband local service area.