Though he’s now been on the job in an ‘acting’ capacity for a year, Aaron Hanen is now officially Bowen Island’s fire chief.
“We are ecstatic to bring him on officially, and look forward to seeing more of his success to improve safety and increase Bowen Island’s resiliency,” said Mayor Gary Ander in a statement.
The born-and-raised Bowen Islander was deputy fire chief for five years before taking over from former fire chief Derek Dickson in late 2019.
But Hanen’s history with the department goes back even further – he started as a volunteer firefighter in 1995.
Hanen found out he had the job just a few days ago.
“It’s super exciting,” he said. “I’m really excited to be the chief of the department.”
That being said, Hanen had never planned to one day be fire chief.
“It was never really on my radar, but when it happened, I was happy to go with it.”
Hanen became acting fire chief at a difficult point in the department’s history, in the midst of a dispute involving the volunteer firefighters, the then fire chief and the municipality.
“Of all of the time I’ve been in the department, that was the low point for sure,” said Hanen. “I think it was for a lot of people.
“But, in some ways, I guess it makes it easier. You can only go up from there, right?”
The past year has seen a lot of work and a lot of effort, said Hanen. “But without the volunteers, we would be nowhere,” he said. “It’s really them that make it all happen.”
But beyond taking over in the middle of a municipal crisis, Hanen has navigated an international crisis in his first year on the job: COVID-19.
Training was suspended at the beginning of the pandemic and picked up as the province opened up. Training has once again slowed, as COVID-19 prevents gathering, so there’s online learning but very little in-person.
However, as COVID-19 cases peak, the volunteer firefighters are still attending calls.
“It’s always a concern when the pager goes off for a sick person call or something like that. Now we have to wear extra PPE for every call that we’re attending,” said Hanen. “When we come back, the apparatus has to be disinfected. So there’s a lot more time that needs to be put in by the volunteers to keep everything going.”
“So far we’re getting through it,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of those sick person calls, which is good.”
Another notable aspect of Hanen’s new job title is that there’s something of a role switch in the department as former fire chief Ian Thompson is now acting deputy fire chief.
