The Town of Qualicum Beach and the City of Parksville announced through their ongoing partnership, an agreement has been reached to share the services of the City of Parksville’s fire chief for an interim period while the future structure of the Town of Qualicum Beach Fire Department is assessed.
Chief Marc Norris will serve in a shared capacity as fire chief for the Town of Qualicum Beach and the City of Parksville beginning on Monday, June 10 for an initial six-month appointment.
Norris joined the Parksville Volunteer Fire Department as a junior member in 1990, working as firefighter leading to a promotion to lieutenant in 2001. In 2002, Norris was the successful candidate for the fulltime career deputy chief position responsible for operations, training and fire prevention. In March 2016, Norris was promoted to chief of the City of Parksville.
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Norris is committed to elevating training throughout the fire service and was recognized by the BC Fire Training Officers Association as trainer of the year in 2010. He remains an active instructor for fire training agencies in the province of B.C. and has served on the executive of the BCFTOA.
In a joint press release, Parksville mayor Ed Mayne and Qualicum Beach mayor Brian Wiese said, “we both firmly believe there is great value in increased collaboration between our communities. We are pleased fire chief Norris has accepted this important and supportive challenge and we believe he will continue to demonstrate excellence in service for our communities as we move forward together.”
Town of Qualicum Beach CAO Daniel Sailland said the former fire chief for the Town of Qualicum Beach, Darryl Kohse, resigned earlier this year.
— NEWS staff, submitted