County to consider closing some fire halls in 8-10 years
HALDIMAND—With the adoption of the County’s first new Fire Master Plan (FMP) since incorporating in 2001, Haldimand Council got its first look at what the future of fire service in the county might look like.
“We hadn’t had a review of our fire services for quite some time,” said County Emergency Services Manager and Fire Chief Jason Gallagher. “The FMP was needed and acts as a guideline for future service, delivery, and any modifications needed moving forward.”
Gallagher highlighted the word ‘guideline’: “It’s not marrying Council or any staff to specific recommendations within the report. The report does include talks about stations, possible station closures, moving to career firefighters, and other service improvements.”
Lyle Quan, Vice President of Operations for Emergency Management Group (EMG), the contractor behind the plan, spoke to Council about some of the recommendations. This included finding new ways to utilize volunteer firefighters, such as for public education initiatives, and responding to volunteer retention declining due to increased training commitments for certification required by the Fire Marshal’s office.
While touring Haldimand’s stations, Quan noted instances where bunker gear was exposed to diesel exhaust.
“One of our concerns in the fire service is cancer. It’s been proven that diesel exhaust is a carcinogen, and that fire stations should be looking at diesel exhaust capture systems … (and) also removing the bunker gear from the apparatus floor and putting it in its own room to protect it from any type of contamination,” he explained.
Quan also recommended shower/decontamination station upgrades at some local stations: “No firefighter should be leaving this station with contamination on their gear, their clothes, anything like this. Why? Because they’re going to bring this home and that should not happen.”
Quan then moved on to the biggest item in the plan: the assessment of Haldimand’s current stations and what they might look like in the future.
“We assessed the present station responses and looked at call volumes,” said Quan. “Plus the information we got from the planning department about future growth helped us make some decisions in regards to recommendations.”
Quan then presented two strategic long-term recommendations.
The first option would see Haldimand go from 11 to nine stations, recommending the closure of Station 5 in Canfield and Station 12 in Fisherville. Quan noted the county would still be adequately covered: “We don’t take these recommendations lightly. We know, myself as a past fire chief, that the closing of a station is an emotional thing, but we try and present how the possible closing doesn’t mean the loss of the volunteers. They can be utilized at the other stations.”
The second option would see Haldimand adopt a six-station model, with the stations in Caledonia, Hagersville, Cayuga, and Dunnville utilizing full-time career firefighters while the stations in Canborough and Selkik would remain volunteer-run.
The designations are based on call volumes, with Quan noting that selecting this option would result in “good coverage for the community.”
It was iterated that no changes are imminent, and the above options may not come to pass. The plan ultimately recommends the County undergo a feasibility study in 8-10 years for a clearer picture of its needs.
“This is not something that has to be decided today,” said Quan.
Councillors Dan Lawrence and Stew Patterson expressed concern the public might misread the news as a foregone conclusion.
“This is a long-range plan, especially with the stations, because this should not be taken lightly. You need to look at everything,” said Quan, noting this report is a snapshot of current data. “We also believe it’s going to take a couple of years of looking at the data. Is the data consistent with what EMG found at the time of their report, or is something changing here?”
Ward 4 Councillor Marie Trainer and Mayor Shelley Ann Bentley both criticized the plan’s recommendations.
“When you have a mix of volunteer and full-time firefighters, I can imagine that’s going to cause some animosity amongst our firefighters. We have a great group of volunteer firefighters,” said Bentley. “I can’t imagine what would happen if you had some that were getting paid and some that were not. I can’t imagine that would be a feel-good story.”
Trainer advocated for keeping all stations open for the absolute shortest response time possible, and asked for clarity on the ‘why’ behind condensing stations.
Quan said this report looks at the ‘hard facts’, adding, “It’s costing you so much money to keep these 11 stations maintained, staffed, the equipment…. As a quick example, a new firetruck these days is over $1 million. By consolidating some of your resources and still offering the same kind of coverage can save the municipality millions of dollars over several years.”
Trainer replied, “It’s still going to be a hard sell, because the volunteers usually go to the station that’s close to all their neighbours and say that’s why they do it, to protect their families and their neighbours’ families.”
Gallagher said again that any changes are years down the line and could be impacted by a number of factors, including population growth: “In 8-10 years we might do a feasibility study and require even more fire stations.”
He concluded, “It’s important to know that we’re not going to put the community in any danger or reduce service that’s going to cause any hazard to the community. We would only make recommendations that would improve service…. All of these decisions would be made through studies, our current data, as well as involving the firefighters themselves. We wouldn’t be making any foreseeable movements without input from everyone in the community, because it is the community’s fire department.”
The new FMP was adopted through a unanimous vote.