Leicester Volunteer Fire Department

03/31/2026

Coming this Good Friday!
Organized by the volunteers of the Cumberland County Exhibition

03/30/2026

On Saturday Evening, we held our Annual Appreciation Banquet. A time to be thankful for the efforts and sacrifices of our members, our good working relationships with our Municipal Government, the reliable assistance of our mutual aid fire departments, and the tremendous support of our spouses and families.

Years of service awards were given out to three members all hitting their milestones in 2026. Fire Captain Mitch Thompson and Firefighter Paul Coulter were both awarded for their 15 years of service to the Leicester Volunteer Fire Department. Also, Firefighter Greg Brennan was recognized for 10 years of service with us. Special thanks to our councilor Anthony Fromm for presenting certificates of recognition to these members from the Municipality.

A volunteer fire department is not just a fire station, fire trucks or the equipment they carry. Most importantly it is the people that staff it. Folks from all walks of life, and all skill sets, with one thing in common: the desire to make a difference in their community, by being there for their neighbours in their times of need. Thank you to all members for their continued support of our organization!

08/26/2025

Leicester UTV 4 in its natural habitat, assisting at the Mansfield forest fire
Photo Credit: Firefighter Daniel Gallant

05/03/2025

Thank you to Deputy Chief Ken Newcombe for planning and providing today’s session with Leicester & Amherst Fire Departments!
Training together has huge benefits as we share ideas and learn to work efficiently and effectively together on future mutual aid calls.
This is the latest instalment in mutual aid training, but we have also covered structure fire search and rescue (Amherst & Oxford) and motor vehicle extrication (Amherst) in days past.
Looking forward to more opportunities to train together in the future with our mutual aid partners.
Thanks to all members who gave up their sunny Saturday morning to expand their wildland firefighting knowledge and techniques!

11/24/2024

Last night, we held our Firefighter's Appreciation Banquet at the fire station. The focus at this year's banquet was on Years of Service and how important long service is to our fire department.
The following were recognized as reaching their milestones in 2024:
5 Years - Brett Gallant & Daniel Gallant
10 Years - Clayton Brooks
15 Years - Thornton Moore
30 Years - Hubert Hunsley, Brian Ripley, and Mike Stiles
40 Years - Garry Lowther

In the years from 2021-2023, we had not held our regular banquets, and handed out Years of Service awards at other fire department functions, so the following were formally recognized last night as well:
10 Years - Mitch Thompson & Paul Coulter (2021)
35 Years - Allan Smith (2022)
20 Years - Ken Newcombe (2022)
15 Years - David Wightman (2023)
10 Years - Alex Smith (2023)

Thank you to all members for their continued service, also thank you to the families of our members, who play the most important support role of all to their volunteer firefighter. Without their encouragement, understanding and assistance, being a volunteer firefighter would be much more difficult, or even impossible.

10/04/2024

Don't forget about our Fall Open House, tomorrow, Oct 5th from 10-4. BBQ will be running throughout the afternoon and some activities for the kids young and old. This year we are showcasing our newly completed Wildland Fire / Off-Road Rescue UTV! Come have a look around and meet our great team of volunteer firefighters, also enter your name in for a draw to win household fire alarms and fire extinguishers.

3460 Highway 204, West Leicester
Hope to see you there!

09/19/2024

50/50 Update!

We haven’t had much to share in 2024 as far as projects / items purchased, because we were working on a big one!

Early in 2024, the membership of LVFD discussed the need for an off-road capable unit. As a fire station with three heavy trucks, and in a rural area with more trails and woods roads than paved roads, our emergency response was fairly limited for off-road calls.

We decided on a few things before the search began: the unit had to be four wheel drive with differential lock, should be able to handle a crew of four firefighters, and could be outfitted with tracks for better flotation on wet ground and snow. We also wanted the ability to serve double duty as a wildland firefighting machine and be able to safely transport a patient in an instance where there is no ambulance access to the scene.

We found a used 2016 John Deere 855 Diesel Gator with 250hrs of use. This was the perfect platform to use as it was the heaviest built farm-duty UTV with a payload capacity of 1400 lbs. We also located and brought home a brand-new ORI utility trailer which was the perfect fit for the Gator. With tires removed and Camso UTV 4S1 tracks installed, we were pleased to see that we gained a considerable amount of ground clearance on the Gator. After tracks it was sent to be wrapped in fire engine red vinyl, and decals applied.

The final piece of the build arrived yesterday from Vermont, USA. A Kimtek Firelite Transport skid that fits neatly in the cargo bed. The skid features a 5.5 hp Honda motor turning a two-stage water pump, which is plumbed into a 70 gallon water reservoir. On the discharge end of the pump we have a 100 foot hose reel with 3/4” hose, a coupling for 1.5” hose or forestry hose, and 5/8” garden hose to fill backpack sprayers. This unit also features a platform on top of the skid unit that a rescue basket can be secured to, if a patient needs to be transported from a difficult to access area.

We would like to thank some businesses that were excellent to deal with, and offered us the best pricing possible to keep us under budget:
*ORI trailers of Miramichi NB, for their well-built galvanized tandem utility trailer, and their handy delivery service
*Eastern Powersports of Amherst NS, for sourcing and delivering the Camso track kit, and helmets
*Green Diamond Equipment of Upper Onslow NS, for supplying the front rack and brush guard
*Conway Customz Inc. of Truro NS for applying the red vinyl wrap
*Carter’s Sports Cresting of Amherst NS for the design and creation of our reflective fire department decals
*Kimtek Corporation of Vermont USA for the skid unit that gives this unit all of its functionality. Well built and the perfect fit, and hassle free shipping from the states as well

And a huge thank-you to YOU, the Nova Scotians that purchase tickets for your chance to win big in the weekly Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50. If not for your support, this and many other important purchases would not be possible! That being said, we are on the verge of another draw, now at a take-home of over $118,000 and growing. Don’t forget to purchase your tickets before 9PM tonight to be included in this week’s draw!

There are a few little things to finish up before it is put into service such as installing radios and finishing emergency lighting, but we are aiming for an in-service date of Oct 5th. This will be the date of our fall Open House, from 10 am-4pm. Come see our new UTV, meet your local firefighters, tour the station and fire trucks, maybe even pick up an application to join our team! There will be a bbq around lunchtime and activities for the kids too. All are welcome, hope to see you there!

06/06/2024

Thank you to all who have supported and continue to support your local volunteer firefighters 🚒
This weekly draw has had an incredible impact for fire departments all across Nova Scotia, as they purchase equipment and fund projects that help them better serve their communities

YEAR # 5 is here - Thank you to our loyal players for supporting this draw. Over 286 fire service agencies are benefitting and we have injected over $40 million dollars back into the Nova Scotia economy.

04/29/2024

Just a reminder there are fire restrictions in place across all of the Municipality of Cumberland and burning is not permitted.

For further information, call 1-855-564-2876 to see if burning is allowed. Contact your municipality to know if their bylaws are different. If the municipality's fire restriction is more limiting than the provincial, you must follow the municipal restriction.

Red means no open fires.

Daily fire restrictions apply in the woods or within one thousand feet (about 300 metres) of the woods. Woods include any forest land, rock-barren, brush land, dry marsh, bog or muskeg.

Daily fire restrictions apply to people's private property, like having a backyard campfire or burning brush at home. They do not apply to private, municipal or provincial campgrounds where there are proper facilities, supervision and regular maintenance to prevent a fire from getting out of control.

The daily fire restrictions apply to open fires, such as:
campfires and fire pits (other than at provincial parks or private campgrounds)
- chimineas, fire bowls and stoves that burn wood
- burn barrels
- domestic brush burning
- industrial burning including for agricultural purposes and clearing building lots
The daily fire restrictions do not apply to CSA approved appliances when they are used according to the manufacturer's instructions. Examples are barbeques, fire bowls, stoves and patio heaters that use propane, natural gas or other gas meant for these devices. Charcoal barbeques can only be used with briquettes.

04/15/2024

Thanks to the amazing support of folks like you participating in the Nova Scotia Firefighters 50/50, we have another purchase announcement to make!

We had been looking to upgrade our presentation gear in our training area, after our projector had given up. Here we have a Philips 75" smart TV, which has HDMI and WIFI connectivity to computers and smartphones, making the sharing of training material a breeze! Pictured here is Junior Chief Everett taking in a training session :)

Remember, all tickets purchased before 11:59pm tonight are eligible for the weekly Early Bird prize of $1,000. The winning early bird ticket number will be posted by noon Tuesday and these tickets are still valid for Thursday’s jackpot draw! Get your tickets now for more chances to win!

Good luck and thank you for your support!
https://www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/nsfd/65

04/14/2024

Every year at the spring regular meetings held at our station, we have a call for nominations for the Chief Officer positions. Offices are held for two year terms, and the Chief and Deputy Chief elections are staggered by a year. This year we had our election for the role of Deputy Chief for 2024-2026, and we had three great candidates accept their nomination.

Please join us in congratulating Ken Newcombe who will be joining our leadership team as Deputy Chief! Ken brings over 20 years experience in the fire service to the position, as well as expertise in wildland fire management and suppression from his career with Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources & Renewables.

Also, please extend a sincere thanks to Paul Coulter, for his 7 consecutive years serving as Deputy Chief. In his leadership role, the Leicester Fire Department has seen many big projects completed, like the building of our new fire station, acquiring a rescue truck, and installing backup power generators for the fire station. Thank you Paul for your dedication and support over the years!