City defends process for fire services review

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: November 14, 2008

While a strategic plan has raised concerns among some volunteer firefighters, the City of Vernon is cautioning that no decisions have been made. Professional and volunteer firefighters, as well as politicians and media, were provided details on the integrated fire services initiative during a session Wednesday. “To date, no decisions have been made. Council has not been presented with a business plan that presents service options,” said Jeff Carlisle, Vernon’s fire chief. The plan suggests the Okanagan Landing hall would not be independent and would integrate fully with the main city hall. Full-time firefighters could be stationed in the Landing, but Carlisle says volunteers will still be required. A consultant started the study in late 2007 and it was kept in-camera by city council because of labour and land issues until response maps were released to the Okanagan Landing Fire Department in March.

Since that time, there have been meetings between city administration and the Landing department’s executive. An integrated workshop was held Sept. 20 and working groups met Nov. 3. Carlisle says the goals of the process are to review fire service delivery and determine performance measures. “All residents of Vernon should receive an equitable service no matter where they live and work,” he said. The study will also look at taxation formulas because Landing residents are currently taxed for their hall, while the rest of Vernon pays taxes for the downtown hall. “We are the only community in B.C. with this kind of service delivery system,” said Carlisle, adding that there is also a need for common training and to address long-term growth in Vernon such as Predator Ridge and the Foothills. For Carlisle, a concern is response times with the average response for the Vernon hall being 6:20 and 10:37 for the Landing. Vernon has an average turnout time of members of one minute while it is 6.3 minutes in the Landing. That is largely because there are full-time officers stationed at the Vernon hall while the Landing crew must travel to their hall from work or home.“Enhancing public and firefighter safety is the first priority for me as fire chief,” said Carlisle.

The next step is for working groups consisting of all stakeholder groups collecting information by the end of November. A draft business plan will go to council for consideration in early January. Among those at Wednesday’s meeting was Ed Forslund, Okanagan Landing fire chief. “I don’t disagree with the information he (Carlisle) presented,” said Forslund, adding that he just wants an open process and his members will continue to be involved. “We have lots of ideas we’d like to put forward.” Forslund believes the status quo has served Okanagan Landing well since the volunteer hall was formed 33 years ago. “We are receptive to change. If ideas come forward that improve service, we are open to them,” he said.

Also part of the process is the Vernon Professional Firefighters Association. “Any time there is a plan to increase service and fire response, we are on board,” said Brent Bond, union president. Bond insists his members want to be partners with everyone involved in fire services. “We’d be happy to work with the Landing volunteers as we do with the volunteers at the Vernon hall,” he said. The other partner at the table is the Vernon Volunteer Firefighters Association.“If we can better fire protection, it’s worth looking at,” said president Keith Schmidt of the process.