The mission of the Fernie Fire and Rescue Service is to respond to fires, entrapment of persons, unplanned releases of dangerous goods, and pre-hospital emergency medical incidents. In addition to a chief, six full time and sixteen auxiliary firefighters, the department has a fully equipped fire hall with five specially equipped vehicles.
This, however, was not always the case.

From its inception in the late nineteenth century, Fernie has always had a Fire Brigade, but as the community was not incorporated, there were differences of opinion between the town and the Coal Company as to whose responsibility it was to pay for it. At an April 1902 meeting the Fire Chief reported that the Brigade had virtually passed out of existence; there was no fire hall and an inventory of fire appliances listed 1200 feet of hose, a complement of rope, four ladders, 25 buckets and three or four axes. Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, and financed by personal subscription, by April 1, 1904 the Fire Brigade consisted of 30 on call members, a fire hall with sleeping accommodations for ten, and a state of the art McRobie two tank chemical engine. Finances were still a problem, and while the fire hall had rooms for ten, there was no money to furnish them for use. The only solution was seen to be incorporation of the City.

The April 29, 1904 fire, which burned out the business section of Fernie, ended the interminable incorporation debate and, on August 19, 1904 the first city council was elected.  The first order of business, following the bylaw governing the proceedings of council, was Bylaw No. 2, regulating the construction of buildings and the prevention of fires. An organized fire department was not far behind.

By April 1908 a demonstration by the Fire Brigade so impressed an insurance underwriter that fire insurance rates in Fernie were reduced. Fernie was justifiably proud of its Fire Brigade, but no one had foreseen the firestorm visited on the City on August 1, 1908. In less than ninety minutes the town was reduced to smouldering ashes. This event, more than any other, has shaped not only the physical appearance of Fernie, but its citizens awareness of the dangers of fire and the need for an efficient and well equipped fire service.

In 1928, the Fernie Fire Department acquired a Studebaker Commander truck chassis equipped with a La France Double Chemical Tank. The vehicle was in continuous service as a fire engine until 1948 and served as a utility vehicle to carry extra hose until 1969.

Over the ensuing years, the fire engine was preserved but never properly serviced. In the 1980’s, it was placed in the public works yard and began to deteriorate. Then, in 1999 the Studebaker Commander was brought from the public works yard to the Fernie Fire Hall where a bay was made available for its safe storage. It was at this time that the Firefighters Association and a newly elected City Council recognized the historical importance of the vehicle to the community of Fernie and that an effort should be undertaken to restore and preserve it.