At the Sept. 22, 2025 meeting of Fort Frances Town Council, councillors enacted a by-law appointing Wayne Riches as the interim chief of Fort Frances Fire and Rescue.
Originally from southern Ontario, Riches moved to the Fort Frances area in late 90s to work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and joined the fire department as a volunteer.
“I think that was about 1998, if memory serves me right,” Riches said.
“Then in 2000 I went full-time [with the fire department].”
In 25 years with the department Riches has held several different roles.
“I’ve held various roles, life safety and public educator, fire safety specialist, captain and most recently for the last over a decade, captain of fire prevention education. So I’ve been responsible for inspections in the community, public education events going to schools and whatnot. Now I’ve transitioned into this role and I’m looking forward to what it brings.”
Riches says while the role of chief comes with its own challenges, the department and the rest of the Town of Fort Frances staff have been great so far.
“I’ve been doing it for 25 years. I’ve always said if I had the opportunity, especially getting close to retirement, if I had the opportunity for this role, I would definitely consider it. So, fortunately enough, it did come up,” he said.
“There are a lot of new, I guess, skills or whatnot that I have to find within myself. But, you know what? We’ve got a great team. Administration in the Town has been great. The firefighters are great. Everybody is really good at things. They all bring skills to the table. So, I’ve talked to them and told them I will be reaching out for the stuff that’s their specialties, the things that they are really good at. Together as a group, we’ll get through whatever challenges we may have over the next little bit.”
Riches also says that the current fire department is up to the task of keeping residents safe.
“You know, we have a very capable department, a good group of guys and we’re just going to continue building on that.”
With Riches’ promotion, the department is also hiring a probationary fire fighter, and Gavin Payne will step into the role of Captain of Fire Prevention Education. While Riches learns how to do the administrative side of the job.
“For me, the biggest thing is the administrative side, the day to day operations are fine. That’s almost second nature,” he said.
“But the administrative side, there’s just things I’ve never had to deal with. You know, my focus was always on fire code, inspections, prevention, that kind of thing. Now I’m dealing with budgets, the political side of things, grants, learning how to write grants, because I’ve never had to do that before.”
People driving down Portage Ave around the Civic Centre and the Fire hall may also notice a bit of work going on in the next few weeks. The garage doors are due to be replaced soon and some renos will take place inside to more adequately separate the decontamination area inside and there are additional changes they’d like to make to the fire hall as funding permits.
Moving forward, Riches is hoping to put on a push for more volunteer firefighters.
“One of my goals, sooner rather than later, is to get volunteer firefighter recruitment going,” he said.
“We have had people in the community reach out, you know, drop resumes off or fill out the form on the Town’s website. But you know what, I really think we need to get back to what we used to do. Let’s do a proper recruitment with all those things attached, like aptitude test, fitness evaluation, interviews, and I would like to see a sort of a group. So let’s do the whole thing and that ties into the Captain of training’s responsibilities. We’ve got a progressive department, we’ve got great equipment, we’ve got great training, and we need to continue with the training,”
The department recently did a low angle rescue training day near the McIrvine boat ramp and the department is also busy preparing for an ice water rescue training program as well, with members working on their swimming capabilities before going further later this fall and winter, as well as vehicle extrication training sometime soon.
Riches is the currently the longest tenured member of the department, and says it’s definitely a benefit.
“I’ve been there the longest now, Rob Dokuchie, the Captain of Apparatus and Equipment Maintenance, started a few years after me, I think,” he said.
“That’s definitely a benefit, when you know how the guys already work together, their personalities, and how they mix and what they’re good at and knowing what areas, as a group, we can work on, that’s a benefit I have going into this position, rather than somebody coming in off the street or whatever.”
Next week is Fire Prevention week starting with Fire Safety day this coming Saturday, Oct. 4. On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., members of the Fire Department will be on hand at Canadian Tire both inside and outside to show people their equipment and offer some education on fire safety. Be sure to stop by and meet Interim Chief Riches.