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Review recommends TNRD take over Little Fort and McLure fire departments

Consultants also recommend mutual aid agreement for entire regional district
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By Times Staff

Thompson-Nicola Regional District should take over the fire departments run by societies within the TNRD, including those in Little Fort and McLure.

That was one of the main recommendations of a Fire Services Review recently carried out on 11 of the fire departments within the TNRD.

The review included the fire departments in Vavenby, Clearwater, Blackpool, Little Fort and McLure in the North Thompson Valley.

It did not include Blue River or Barriere, which opted out of the process.

The departments in Vavenby and Blackpool are operated by the TNRD while those in Little Fort and McLure are run by their own societies.

Clearwater’s fire department is run by District of Clearwater.

READ MORE: Clearwater fire department gets good grades (Jan. 29, 2018)

Blue River’s is run by an improvement district while Barriere’s is run by the municipality.

The review consultants, Dave Mitchell and Associates, said that the TNRD should take over responsibility for fire departments run by societies, such as those in Little Fort and McLure.

Historically, the use of private, volunteer societies to provide fire services was quite common throughout the province, the review said. Their emergence was quite pronounced throughout the 1970s, 1980s and, to a lesser degree, the 1990s.

The society departments have no particular operational powers, unless they are granted to them by contract – whether from their service area residents, from the TNRD or both.

“To the best of our knowledge, none of the society departments has any service contracts in place with its area residents,” said the consultants.

This lack of clear operational authority poses a liability risk.

The risk is made worse because each member of a society department is potentially liable, personally, if a mistake is made.

The tax bases for most of the society departments are quite limited, which makes increasing their budgets to establish, operate and maintain a properly compliant fire department challenging.

Mutual aid for all TNRD

Another recommendation was that the TNRD look at establishing an overall mutual aid agreement covering all departments within its boundaries.

The latest wildfire season demonstrated the need for area departments to be able to respond together, quickly, efficiently and effectively, when required, the review stated.

Some regional districts (such as Columbia-Shuswap RD) have developed a comprehensive mutual aid structure among all regional district departments, with standalone agreements with area municipalities.

While several of the departments (notably, Clearwater, Blackpool and South Green Lake) maintain good training and other records, most departments find this a challenge. The consultants recommended that the situation be improved.

The consultants recommended that the departments, in cooperation with the TNRD, societies, and local governments, review the compensation received by volunteers.

Some fire departments within the TNRD spend only $1,500 annually on training.

Based on the minimum training required to achieve Playbook compliance, the annual training costs should be approximately $1,000 per member.

Taking as an example Little Fort, with 11 members, this enhancement alone would result in an increase of $10,000 on an annual tax requisition of approximately $20,000, or 50 per cent.

More inspections

New legal requirements mean that Thompson-Nicola Regional District likely will need to have available one or more inspectors to cover all unincorporated areas under its jurisdiction, even if a fire inspection regime has not been implemented.

Overall, the reviews conducted with each fire department were very positive, with chiefs, officers and staff discussing all matters in a frank and open manner, the consultants reported.

“Without exception, they were aware of the issues before them and committed to ongoing improvement to meet new and, in most cases, more complex requirements. At the same, they face challenges including recruitment and retention issues, a higher level of regulatory requirements including more detailed record keeping, and rising call volumes in the context of constrained budgets,” said the consultants.



newsroom@clearwatertimes.com

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