In its 60-year history, the Coldstream Fire Department has never had a year as busy as 2024. 

The Coldstream fire hall responded to 240 calls for service last year, according to an annual report from fire chief Fiona Morgenthaler-Code. 

Alarms (29 per cent of calls), ambulance assistance (23 per cent), motor vehicle incidents (17 per cent), brush and grass fires (nine per cent) and burning complaints (six per cent) were the top five service requests for the fire hall. 

The report compares last year's numbers to 2012, when the hall reported 105 service requests for the year. There has been a 128 per cent increase in service requests during the 12-year-period. 

Meanwhile, the Lavington fire hall responded to 94 calls for service. Those included 33 motor vehicle incidents, 15 brush and grass fires, 11 alarms and eight structure fires. 

The Coldstream hall also responded to high risk calls in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park, working alongside BC Wildfire Service.

"Additionally, the hall deployed the sprinkler protection unit and a water tender truck to support our B.C. neighbours when they needed help," the report states. "This affords our firefighters invaluable experience on complex fire ground and generates inter-community goodwill and understanding when Coldstream calls on others for help."

Morgenthaler-Code noted the Coldstream hall expects to hire three recruits in the spring of 2025 to bring its complement of firefighters up to 30. 

While the deputy chief role went unfilled in 2024, Nathan Meyer is the new Coldstream deputy chief. Nathan Betz was also promoted to lieutenant. 

The Coldstream hall is also getting a new rescue truck in 2026, according to the report, replacing a 1999 vehicle and adding improved capacity for personnel and equipment.