We need you – and we hope you never need us.
The Comox Valley's Network of Response-Ready Professional Volunteers
Emergency preparedness and response in the Comox Valley is a shared effort. Comox Valley Emergency Management (CVEM) is proud to collaborate with a network of professional volunteers dedicated to coordinating, cooperating, and engaging across agencies, programs, and organizations toward the same goal: a prepared, connected, and resilient Comox Valley.
When an emergency happens, these volunteers are ready, from response to recovery. They activate emergency reception centres, maintain critical communications, and search for and support displaced people. They show up prepared because they trained for it.
These roles take real commitment: regular training, ongoing readiness, and a willingness to activate when called. In return, you build skills and credentials that matter, work within recognized incident management systems, and join a team your community counts on.
There are many pathways in. Find yours below.
Comox Valley Emergency Management (CVEM)
CVEM directly coordinates the following volunteer programs, providing recruitment, training, exercising, and deployment support. Volunteers in these programs become part of the BC Public Safety Lifeline Volunteer (PSLV) program, a provincial designation that connects Comox Valley volunteers to a broader network of trained emergency responders across British Columbia.
To learn more or express interest in either program, contact CVEM at 250-334-6000 or email us.
More Pathways: Partner Organizations
CVEM works in close cooperation with a network of independent volunteer organizations that are essential to the Comox Valley's regional emergency response and recovery. Each brings specialized skills, recognized credentials, and dedicated professionals who train seriously, participate in joint exercises, and are ready to activate as part of a coordinated regional response.
Joining any one of these organizations is a pathway into professional emergency volunteering with connections that reach from the Comox Valley to provincial operations. Contact each organization directly to find out how to get involved.
Comox Valley Fire Services
Every department in the Comox Valley is either volunteer or composite. These are not backup roles. They are the primary response for most of the region, staffed by professional volunteers who train to the same national standards as career firefighters.
Volunteer firefighters are trained professionals who show up for their communities in some of the most challenging conditions imaginable. This pathway comes with serious skill building, leadership development, and transferable credentials recognized across the province.
Fire service training is delivered within recognized incident management and safety frameworks, with opportunities for shared learning, joint exercises, and leadership development at every level.
For a full map of fire service areas, visit comoxvalleyrd.ca/fire. Find out more about how you can get involved.
Did you know?
British Columbia has roughly 400 individual fire departments protecting communities of various sizes. The majority are volunteer or composite, meaning they rely on paid on-call and volunteer firefighters working alongside or instead of career staff. More than 200 volunteer and composite fire departments across the province depend on their members to deliver frontline emergency response. Across Canada, most of the fire protection is delivered by volunteer departments.