As Founder of Fireweed Group Inc., I am often asked why I chose to name the company after a plant. Here is the story. It is a story about perseverance, strength, growth and beauty.

As a child, I would drive through the mountains with my mom and dad en-route to a holiday destination. As an inquisitive 6-year-old, I would peer from the back seat of our Volkswagen Beetle and look at the scorched sides of one of those mountains. “What happened here?” I would ask. “When was this fire, dad?” I asked the same questions on every trip.

As an adult, on a return trip to that same vacation spot a few years ago, I stopped at this mountain. Its face was no longer dark or scarred by fire. Although it still showed signs of a past story, over the years it had grown and flourished with life and I smiled as I realized this mountain and I had almost grown up together.

Instead of getting back in my car, I wandered over to the trailhead and began my walk into the welcoming lodge pole pines. There were markers along the trail that spoke of the fire that I had asked about for so many years. It all began from a spark delivered by a bolt of lightening. The markers went on to describe the rejuvenation and growth…and the plant that had started it all. Fireweed. I was standing on the Fireweed Trail.

The beauty of this plant is that it is the foundation of a forest. Its roots are so deep that it cannot be destroyed by fire. When everything on the ground’s surface is eliminated by flame, the roots of the fireweed are quick to reach the surface. Its expediency to live again allows the opportunity for growth for everything else.

Colin Collard
President of Fireweed Group Inc.

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