Vernon's Fire Chief reviewed the Integrated Fire Services Initiative to a crowd of about 50 firefighters and politicians. Jeff Carlisle says because he's only been on the job 7 months he's not incumbered by history. Carlisle says 80% of firefighters in Canada are volunteers and there is no move to remove the volunteers, but also says the status quo is not good enough. Carlisle outlined the timeline of the report and where they're going. He says there are challenges with response times which are a minute in Vernon and 6.3 minutes for the volunteer hall. Landing Volunteer Chief, Ed Forslund says its not that cut and dried because you need to look at type of response. Forslund they're willing to look at anything that improves service, but there have been no concerns about their department for over 30 years. Forslund says they're working on their own plan they plan to bring to the table before the draft plan goes to council in January.
Mayor Wayne Lippert says while council will make the final decision, they need input from the firefighters. Councillor Barry Beardsell questions why the study, which he says was first talked about in 2006 and sat around city hall since January has just surfaced now. Lippert is surprised by criticism from Councillor Beardsell, who he says has been part of the process from the start and voted unanimously with council about the time lines. Beardsell is not running for re-election.
