Mark Lucas Honoured with Canadian Volunteer Fire Service Award

Mark Lucas Honoured with Canadian Volunteer Fire Service Award

Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent

Former Vegreville Fire Services, (VFS) Deputy Chief Mark Lucas received a Canadian Volunteer Fire Service Award to commemorate his outstanding contributions to the community throughout his career.

Mayor Tim MacPhee presented the award at the May 6 town council meeting. MacPhee stating, “On behalf of the citizens and Vegreville town council, I want to thank you for all your years of service that you put into this community to make it a better place to live and a safer place for all of its residents. I know you have taken a lot of pride in what you do and you should. Congratulations.”

L-R: Deputy Fire Chief for VFS Gary Faas, Former Deputy Fire Chief Mark Lucas, Mayor Tim MacPhee, Former Fire Chief for VFS Jerrold Lemko.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

Former VFS Fire Chief Jerrold Lemko congratulated Mark on his retirement and presented Mark with a retirement crest.

“On behalf of the community, volunteer firefighters of Canada, Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Association here is your 40 Year Service Medal recognizing 40 years of service although you put in 43 years of volunteer fire fighter service across Alberta with 28 of those years serving for Vegreville Fire Department.”

When asked how he felt about retiring, Mark replied, “I started doing this work when I was 17 and a half in Peace River and this is something near and dear to my heart. It will be hard not to do it. In retirement, I plan to take up some projects with my wife.”

After being questioned on what qualities people need to do this work, Mark said, “Volunteer firefighters need to have the willingness to give up family time, and they need to have their heart in doing what they do. One guy asked me one time, why do you do that? I told him if I don’t do it, are you going to do it? And he said no, I don’t want to see that stuff. I also didn’t want to see somethings but somebody has to do it.

Former Deputy Fire Chief Mark Lucas after he received his award.

(Rosanne Fortier/Photo)

We have a lot of brave men and women out there who have stepped forward and taken up the cause. I have seen a lot of people come and go. I can remember when we took the first woman in our fire department and they didn’t want women on our fire department and I said, Why not? They can do the job just as well as anybody else can.

Mayor MacPhee’s final comments echoed this sentiment, “Nobody puts in that amount of years without caring and going all the way. So, this award is a small recognition for the amount of time he spent away from his family and effort he put into it. To be able to get something like this, you have to be able to put your whole heart and soul into it.”