BROOKLYN, N.S. — The path to a regionalized fire service for Windsor and West Hants has been laid out. Now, it’s up to politicians and the volunteer firefighters who serve the region to work together to make it happen.
Earlier this month, a high-level overview of a 400-plus page report containing 151 recommendations was presented to the transition committee in charge of merging the region’s two municipal units by 2020.
The report, prepared by Goudreault Associates, offered a detailed look at the existing service and recommendations on how to improve it.
Fire and rescue services in Windsor and West Hants are currently being provided by Windsor, Hantsport (which also operates station 2 in Southwest Hants), Brooklyn (which also operates station 2 in Three Mile Plains) and Summerville; plus two East Hants Regional Municipality departments — Walton Shore Volunteer Fire Department and the Uniacke and District Volunteer Fire Department — to cover bordering areas of West Hants. Additionally, a variety of fire departments from East Hants and Kings County respond to mutual aid requests.
Area fire chiefs say they are still reading through the document, but are liking the recommendations, for the most part.
Jamie Juteau, Windsor’s fire chief, said in an interview that the report was “very comprehensive and a lot more in-depth” than he initially thought it would be based on reading the request for proposals.
“This is going to set the benchmark for some exciting times for the regional fire service for West Hants and Windsor,” said Juteau. “We have to take this in with an open mind and work through this 400-page document as best we can and just make it the best thing possible for our departments and citizens going forward.”
Paul Maynard, a deputy fire chief in Hantsport, said change can be hard to accept but in his initial reading of the report, he’s optimistic the suggestions will be a change for the better.
“Anytime there's a change, people are going to be stressed and there's going to be problems that will creep up over time. But, I mean, for the most part, I think all the recommendations are very acceptable and we really look forward to moving forward on this because it's been a long time coming,” he said.
Jason Cochrane, Brooklyn’s fire chief, noted that he too thought the document was thorough but said the general public and fellow firefighters need to realize the recommendations are just that — recommendations.
“We do everything; we work in our community and work with our equipment, but sometimes it's nice having someone review our status and our situation and give us some outlook on what could be changed. It is absolutely not definite that everything will be changed as per the report,” said Cochrane, noting what changes occur will be a collaborative effort between council, the chief administrative officer of the merged municipality and the firefighters.
Cochrane noted, “we're not going to be forced to do everything; we want to cooperate in a large group to find out what we feel could work and negotiate through some of the suggestions.”
APPARATUS UPGRADES
One of the more costly — but important — aspects of the report is providing firefighters with the gear and equipment they require to do their jobs safely and efficiently.
The consultants examined the existing inventory of all the fire departments and determined a 20-year replacement program for such capital costs as trucks and recommended instituting a group purchasing plan.
The report noted that “several of the existing vehicles are long past their replacement date, both in age and condition.” It’s being recommended some are replaced, others be sold.
In 2020, there are six vehicles listed for replacement, with the first one being an aerial truck for Windsor Fire that carried a price tag of about $1.35 million.
The report notes that both of Windsor’s aerials are old — one is 35 years old and the other is 30 years old — and were manufactured by companies that are now out of business. The report recommends replacing just one of the aerial units.
Juteau, who has held the role of chief for a little over a year, said he’s pleased to see the line items included in the report, noting they’ve been waiting on apparatus upgrades for some time.
“It’s starting to cost us a lot of money to keep some of these units on the road. They are well in need of replacement. The aerials are well beyond their years of life. We’re basically one good repair away from our current aerial from not working, quite frankly,” said Juteau.
“One of our main attack pumpers hits reserve status next year. It is a good time (to replace this apparatus),” he added.
Juteau said they’re going to need to put some focus groups together to look at things like equipment and apparatus.
Other items listed for 2020 include replacing Brooklyn’s pumper, which is located in Three Mile Plains and is more than 32 years old, with a new standard pumper ($750,000); replacing Windsor’s rural pumper and pumper 5 with two new standard pumpers (one valued at $760,000, the other at $750,000); and providing Summerville’s rescue 4 with a new standard chassis and rescue body (estimated to cost $400,000). Plus, Windsor’s rescue boat, which is almost 15 years old, should be considered for replacement in 2020 or in the coming years. That would cost about $40,000.
That amounts to an estimated cost of $4.05 million.
Cochrane said Brooklyn’s pumper that is scheduled for replacement is definitely a needed piece of equipment.
“It's a must. It has to be replaced,” he said. “It's out of service now and for us to properly provide services to the county, that vehicle is needed there to keep that station functioning at its best capability.”
The report has also suggested that, given fire risk indicators, Brooklyn’s existing aerial should be moved to Three Mile Plains. That’s not a recommendation that Cochrane is on board with just yet. He said he’d ideally like Brooklyn’s primary station to retain the aerial, especially in light of the country club development slowly progressing in Ardoise. He said it would also assist firefighters as they respond to chimney fires throughout the area.
“So, again, these are all suggestions and it's very important that people reading the report, don't read that it's all one package, all or none. Like, there's many pieces in there that could take years to unveil,” Cochrane said.
NEW STATION
Maynard and fellow Hantsport firefighters have been lobbying council for a new fire station for more than a year.
When representatives of Goudreault Associates presented its findings to the transition committee Dec. 2, they noted Hantsport requires a new station — and it needs to be located within the community, not moved to Mount Denson.
That came as good news for the Hantsport firefighters.
“The membership was very happy to see that recommendation. You know, we suspected (it). We knew that the station had to be replaced. However, we were just concerned about locations,” he said.
Previous discussions considered locations in the Mount Denson area and the Hantsport connector to Highway 101, both of which would aid in faster response times to the community of Falmouth.
However, the report noted that the main issue with those locations was that it would increase response time for firefighters responding to the station.
“It is recommended that the location for the new Hantsport station remain as close as possible to
the densely populated, high-risk area in the centre of the community,” the report notes.
The station replacement is recommended for 2020 as well.
“Overall, capital requirements are largely driven by fire apparatus replacements, but another major item in 2020 is the Hantsport fire station replacement,” the report stated.
If every recommended project was to proceed in 2020, it would cost an estimated $6.794 million, but costs could carry over into other budget years.
“The peak in 2020 is almost entirely a result of the pent-up need for fire apparatus replacement and the proposed Hantsport fire station,” the report notes. “There are several smaller capital maintenance and health and safety related projects in 2020 as well. After 2020, the annual average capital demand is $660k, which includes a projected revenue of $200k in 2023 with the sale of a surplus pumper.”
TERRITORIAL RECONFIGURING
The Windsor Fire Department served as the primary responder to the Falmouth area for decades until 2015, when the volunteer force had a falling out with West Hants council. As the municipality and WFD severed ties and West Hants created its own fire service, Hantsport took over covering most of Falmouth.
While Windsor continued to respond for mutual aid calls, in the past year or so, they began an auto-aid protocol with Hantsport to respond to the area.
The consultants examined the existing structure and fire territories and have suggested several changes.
“Emergency response issues currently exist where the fire districts are not established with the
concept of a region-wide closest appropriate resource allocation to an incident,” the report noted.
“The current district map was redrawn in late October 2015 after the Windsor fire department withdrew fire protection services for proximate areas of West Hants, a contract that had been in place for approximately 65 years,” the report continued. “More mutual-aid is now being utilized between the W/WH fire departments (than was immediately after the Windsor issue) as the fire chiefs have recognized the need.”
As such, the report recommends Windsor resume offering primary coverage of Falmouth.
Maynard said Hantsport firefighters are OK with that change.
“I mean it makes sense to send the closest fire station... In many ways with the auto aid, it's been naturally happening anyway. So basically this just puts that administrative area of responsibility back into Windsor's hands so it certainly makes complete sense to do that,” Maynard said.
“Bottom line is it's about the customers, with their residents who are calling 911 for help to get the closest and most appropriate resources to the incident,” Maynard added.
Juteau said he’s certain Windsor’s membership will be supportive of that recommendation.
“Our members have always supported responding into Falmouth and responding anywhere that we’re needed to. It’s not about lines on the map,” he said.
“Lines on a map are pointless. What it boils down to is the best level of service for the customer... that is calling 911, whether it’s Three Mile Plains, Hantsport, or Windsor that gets there first, they don’t care what the truck looks like, what’s written on the side of it. They care about people getting there that can help them with their issue.”
He said if sending the closest truck means Windsor moves more into Falmouth and Three Mile Plains moves a little bit more into Currys Corner, then he says that’s a win for the citizen.
Another change recommended in the report is to see Brooklyn regain coverage of east Ardoise, an area that has been covered by Mount Uniacke, and Southwest Hants take over response to the Duck Pond Road, Black River Lake area.
“Analysis revealed that the travel-time to that area is virtually the same for both Brooklyn and for Uniacke,” the report notes. “The additional complication, cost, and inefficiency of managing an additional fire service in that sparsely occupied area does not contribute measurably to potential outcomes.”
Cochrane, Juteau and Maynard all said the report will need to be reviewed by the fire departments and council and they will come up with what will best work for the region.
“This isn't going to be something they're going to implement overnight,” said Maynard. “I mean, this is going to take a long time and it's going to involve a lot of planning and coordination and a lot of work on all the members of the West Hants fire service to... implement several of the recommendations.”
Windsor and West Hants regional fire services review
DID YOU KNOW?
- Collectively, the Windsor and West Hants municipal governments have annually granted about $2.75 million towards operational and capital fire costs, over the last three years. This budget amount represents approximately 13 per cent of the municipalities’ annual combined budgets.
- Three models were reviewed: the status quo, a fully integrated regional fire service, and a hybrid organizational fire service. The consultants are recommending the hybrid model “because it is the best compromise in providing regional coordination and efficiencies yet maintains the local volunteer character of the fire department.”
- The report recommends providing centralized administration support, management and leadership, including hiring a full-time director of public safety services – regional fire chief, and a full time assistant fire chief with primary responsibilities for fire prevention are recommended.
- A part-time divisional chief is also recommended to help develop and coordinate firefighter qualifications and training.
- Additionally, it is recommended that the municipality hire four part-time on-call fire-investigators that are trained and equipped to investigate all fires in the county.
- The hope is by providing additional staff, it will cut down on the hours volunteer officers spend doing paperwork and tasks best suited for administration.
- It’s also recommended that the municipality provide all volunteers with health and wellness benefits, like offering provincial Workers Compensation Benefits, accidental death and dismemberment and disability coverage, and a mental health program for firefighters and their families.
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