By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: November 06, 2008
Fuming over a City of Vernon restructuring process, Okanagan Landing’s volunteer firefighters are taking their concerns directly to current and future politicians. Many of the department’s 27 volunteers will sit down with current city council Saturday to discuss a draft strategic plan for Vernon’s fire/rescue services and the recommendation that the Landing hall no longer be a separate entity and that professional firefighters be stationed there. “We want them to hear our views on the issue and how we operate,” said Ed Forslund, Okanagan Landing chief. A separate meeting will also be held with the other candidates hoping to be elected to council Nov. 15.
“We want the new council to know where we are coming from,” said Forslund. The Landing department has been in existence for 33 years, and when the area was annexed into Vernon in 1995, the association entered into a contract to provide the city with fire protection. It continues to operate separately although the Landing and Vernon halls do co-operate. The strategic plan calls for the contract to end and for the Landing to be integrated into the city’s fire service. That could include unionized, professional firefighters — which are presently only at the Vernon hall — being in Okanagan Landing alongside volunteers. But Forslund says that situation may not sit well with some volunteers who have been at the hall since the beginning. “By putting professionals in there and stripping us of our authority to run our own hall, the result could be tearing the volunteer hall to pieces,” he said. Forslund also believes that replacing the volunteer-operated department with full-time firefighters could be a costly proposition for taxpayers. “We don’t have a fight with council or the paid guys, we just want to be heard.”
City officials indicate that no decision on the draft strategic plan has been made, and it was initiated as a way of looking at how best to provide services to all Vernon residents. They also state that issues of response times and training for all firefighters — volunteers and professionals — must be considered. Mayor Wayne Lippert has confirmed he will be at the meeting. “I will go with an open mind and I’m more than happy to meet with the firefighters and hear from them,” he said. Lippert denies the strategic plan is an attempt to not use volunteers, and he believes reviewing fire services in the community was necessary. “There are all kinds of things we need to look at and often, they’re just ideas. If it’s decided they are worth looking at, that’s when we get more input and people involved.”
