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Ceremonial shovels mark the green light for Wallace District Fire Department’s expansion of the fire hall at its original location of 330, 11th Ave. S. WDFD Firefighters - Shelby Pardy (maternity leave) Evan Pardy, John Davidson, Curtis Smith, Morgan Henry, and Joel Neumier line up behind the ceremonial ‘sod’ turners: (L-R) Devan Decroliere (Roger Branum Construction), Fire Chief Cory Nixon, Marc Savy (deputy mayor), Glen Simard (Minister of Rural & Northern Affair), Mayor Tina Williams, Neil Smith (Town of Virden CAO) and Roger Branum (Roger Branum Construction). Photo By Anne Davison

Fire Hall Expansion - best way to spend a million bucks

Shovel ceremony marks Virden fire hall go-ahead

By Anne Davison

With the ceremonial sod turning on July 29, the Town of Virden and Wallace District Fire Department marked Virden firehall’s expansion and renovation project.

Virden’s deputy mayor Mark Savy welcomed the crowd saying, “I remember when I joined the fire department in 2006, they were getting excited, talking about a new hall. Here we are in 2026, just about to put shovels in the ground.”

The project is 50 per cent cost shared between Town of Virden and Government of Manitoba through the Growth and Renewals Opportunities Grant.

The Honourable Glen Simard, Minister of Rural and Northern Affairs addressed the sizeable gathering on a scorching hot morning saying, “Being a regional project, because this actually affects neighbouring communities, it was really important to make sure that the public is on board… that this is something that they want and that they're ready for. And when you have a town like Virden with strong leadership, and a good capital plan, and a good public safety plan… it makes something like this easy to endorse.”

Simard pointed to recent firefighter demands. “In the past couple of years, we've had a real comprehensive response to fires in Manitoba. The wildfire service relies upon communities like Virden to respond to fires in the north. And having good, well-trained firefighting force is extremely important.”

Mayor Tina Williams welcomed the crowd who came to celebrate this “really important milestone for our community and all our surrounding communities.”

She said, “This funding will strengthen our emergency services and ensures our firefighters have a space and equipment and facilities to continue protecting us, and to protect themselves as well."

The mayor explained how Virden saved up for the work. “To achieve this goal, the Town of Virden had allocated $150,000 a year through its annual budget for over eight years, and then when the province came in with its investment… we each contributed $1.5 million towards this project.”

Mayor Williams expressed appreciation for the province’s role and said, “I want to thank Minister Simard and his staff, Matt, who are here today with us.”

Former CAO, Rhonda Stewart was acknowledged by several speakers for her extra effort on many

occasions which included the grant application to the province. Clayton Canart, reeve of Wallace-Woodworth municipality spoke saying,

"This is probably the best way to spend that million dollars"-Marc Savy

“It's extremely important for firefighters to have these kinds of assets to provide the life-saving services and protection they provide our citizens. I've been chair of the Fireboard for 10 years now, and I know that they were advocating for (the fire hall upgrade) before that.”

He praised the dedication of the volunteer firefighters for local needs and added, “Being on the highway, we see a lot of traffic incidents, so they're providing services to many people from outside of our area. So, thank you for the work that you do, and congratulations on the new facility.”

Fire Chief Cory Nixon expressed what the project means to the fire service.

“This is a very exciting day for the department,” said Nixon on behalf of firefighters and the building committee. “The firefighters at Station 1 are ecstatic that after years of preplanning and putting away funds, that this grant has actually pushed the project into reality.”

He said it will bring the firehall into conformance with new safety guidelines, “ensuring that everybody operating in the building can remain as cancer-free and safe as possible. It's a big step in fire service right now on cancer prevention.”

Firefighters’ gear will no longer sit in the exhaust fumes of the trucks.

“The new expansion allows us to take our gear off our apparatus floor.”

The new truck bay will be built at the rear of the current hall, which will be renovated to store the gear and firefighting apparatus.

Nixon explained, “With the new space, we're excited to be able to accommodate more training…we will have dedicated training areas to better train our members.”

In closing, emcee Savy said the firefighters on the building committee played a key role. Firefighter John Davidson (formerly with Manitoba Hydro) and Chief Nixon (a building inspector) brought valuable knowledge to the decision making.

Savy also reminisced about the Chamber of Commerce candidate forum held for the former municipal council elections. “We were asked questions,” he said, “And one of the questions was, ‘if you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on?’ Well, I think this is probably the best way to spend that million dollars, so this is the way we're spending it.”

Work is due to begin in early August.