About the Fire Department

History of The Howick Township Fire Department

Old Group Photo — Howick Firefighters 1987/88 L-R Back Stephen Payne, Dan Dickison, Bill Doig, Jim Schefter, Allen Stokes, Mike Newton, Cecil Payne, John Brown, Harley Gaunt, Glen Reidt, Lynn Hickey L-R Front Cliff Coulter, Ron Mann, Jim Darling, Stanford Zimmerman

The Howick Township Fire Department has been serving Howick Township since 1984. From humble beginnings with about thirteen firefighters and an old fuel truck retrofitted into a fire truck that was stored in local barn. Today we have twenty-two firefighters, a Fire Chief, five fire department vehicles, and a fire station located in Gorrie. The core values have remained the same: “ a dedicated group of people who take pride in serving and helping their community through emergency response, public education and community service.”

A brief timeline of the Howick Township Fire Department

Prior to Howick having a fire department, Howick was provided fire protection through agreements with Wingham, Listowel, Harriston & Clifford.
1984/85 The fire department was formed under a joint fire board between Howick Township & the Town of Wingham forming the Wingham & Area Fire Department.

In 1987 the fire department took over the former Howick Roads/Public Works building in Gorrie. The firefighters did all the renovations required to the building themselves and it reopened as the Howick Fire Station in 1988.
October 2009: The Wingham & Area Fire Board was dissolved and the Howick Township Fire Department was created. 2 apparatus were purchased from the fire board by the taxpayers of Howick, Pumper 2-4 and Tanker 2-5, along with existing equipment.

January 2010: The Howick Fire Department logo and crest were designed by a Howick Firefighter
January 2010: Howick Township named Bill Doig as Fire Chief of the Howick Fire Department.

2011: Howick Fire purchased Rescue 2-7, a used Smeal rescue truck from Pennsylvania. This brought the apparatus roster up to 3 trucks for the first time in the department's history and increased our level of service.

May 12 2010: the “Creamery Fire” on Fordwich Line
June 2012: Bill Doig retired from the fire department with 28 years of service. Howick Township named Shawn Edwards as the new Fire Chief.

Sparky joined the team in 2015 thanks to the generosity of the Howick Optimist club.
June 2020: Howick Fire took delivery of its first brand new truck, Pumper 2-6 an International with custom body from Metalfab Fire Trucks of New Brunswick. This new truck replaced Rescue 2-7.
October 2020: Howick Fire took delivery of its second brand new truck, Tanker 2-5, a Freightliner with stock body from Dependable Emergency Vehicles of Ontario. This new truck replaced the former Tanker 2-5.

October 2022: Fire Chief Shawn Edwards left the fire department after 10 years of service. Howick Township named Josh Kestner as the new Fire Chief.
April 2023: The fire department purchased the former Huron County Mutual Fire Aid Association safety trailer to be used in public education efforts in Howick Township.