The fire chief of Gibbons, Eric Lowe, has dedicated the last 25 years of his life to serving his community.
On Saturday (Dec. 3), The Town of Gibbons and its fire department put together a Christmas party where they congratulated the chief for his commitment to the community.
In honour of his service, they made a surprise announcement that the Gibbons Fire Hall was to be renamed the Eric D. Lowe Fire Hall.
Lowe came to Gibbons back in 1996 when he was working as a combat engineer for the Canadian Military.
"It's a volunteer fire department. In 1997, I joined," Lowe said.
After ten years of volunteering with the Gibbons Fire Department, Lowe was promoted to fire chief.
"Helping people is a highlight if you narrow it down to something."
Lowe also says that in the last twenty-five years, many changes have been made to the Firefighting community.
"New equipment, more advance tools, stuff like that."
The announcement shocked Chief Lowe.
"I'm very hard to surprise, and they surprised me. The whole fire department and all the town staff were there. They knew about it for two months and they didn't leak it to me at all."
Alongside the renaming of the fire hall, Lowe was also presented with a signed photo of his crew and a diorama of the fire hall.
"I'm honored and humbled. I don't do this for recognition, I just do it because I enjoy doing it."