By Steve Hubrecht
steve@columbiavalleypioneer.com

Prestige Radium Hot Springs Resort Manager and Radium Fire Department veteran, Trevor Carr, is the new Radium Fire Chief.

Trevor Carr. Submitted photo

Carr, who has been a member of the village’s fire department since 2016, started in the new volunteer role as chief after longtime Radium Fire Chief, Dave Dixon, retired in December. 

Many village residents are familiar with Carr through his job as General Manager at the Prestige Radium Hot Springs Resort, where he has worked since 2015.

Carr brings a wealth of experience with him to his new role, having previously been a member of fire departments in Nicholson (just south of Golden), Jasper and Sun Peaks.

“When I first got into [firefighting], it seemed like a good way to connect with the community and meet new people. It’s also a way of giving back,” Carr told the Pioneer. 

Being a volunteer firefighter is also a great way to acquire a new skill set that is completely different from the skills he already had through being a hotel operator in the tourism industry, he explained.

“When I first started as a firefighter I said ‘I’m never going to be an officer’ but look at me today, now I’m chief,” Carr said with a chuckle. 

During his time with the Nicholson Fire Department, Carr began helping to train new firefighting recruits, and so it was only natural that he became the Radium Fire Department’s training officer, when he joined the Radium crew in 2016.

“It’s a really satisfying way to connect to the Village of Radium Hot Springs. Of course, I’ve gotten to know the community really well as a business manager, but I’ve also gotten to know it again through a whole different avenue as a member of the fire department,” said Carr. “It’s a big learning curve to be the person in charge now, and I’ve got a long way to go, but it’s been very good so far.”

Carr added that part of what he loves about firefightings is that “it’s always changing. There’s always advances and new things being learned about how to put out a fire or cut a car open. It never stagnates. It’s always evolving.”