Councillors take sides over firefighting plan

Published: March 10, 2009 7:00 PM Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star

The prospect of integrating fire halls in Vernon is fuelling a raging debate. Council was presented with a business plan Monday that calls for the Okanagan Landing fire hall to come under the administration of the Vernon hall. And while no official decisions have been made, some politicians are already taking positions. “I’m thinking about the safety of the citizens,” said Coun. Jack Gilroy of the plan to have two unionized firefighters stationed at the Landing hall, with volunteers still actively involved in fighting blazes. “There are areas that need faster response.” When Okanagan Landing was annexed into Vernon in 1993, the city entered into a contract with the volunteer-based Okanagan Landing Fire Department Association to provide fire suppression services there. The hall continues to function separately from the Vernon hall. Gilroy is convinced integration will benefit the volunteers because they will be able to tackle fires throughout Vernon. “They will be responding to more calls than ever before,” he said.

However, there is some opposition to the proposal. Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe says future growth may ultimately lead to changes at the Landing hall, but she insists that’s not currently necessary. “Right now, the Landing guys are giving great service,” she said. Mayor Wayne Lippert isn’t willing to commit himself yet to the business plan. “We’ll study what’s been presented and when it comes back to council, we will have to make a determination of what options we will want to take,” he said. “It needs to be discussed more because there are some answers the chief still needs to provide.”

In presenting the business plan, Vernon fire chief Jeff Carlisle says the Landing volunteers would continue to provide a valuable service. “There’s no move in this five-year plan to close the Landing station,” he said.If the changes occur, two unionized firefighters at the Landing hall would take the truck to a fire and the volunteers would meet them there instead of having to go to the hall first. Carlisle says that would greatly reduce response times. He also points out that some of the highest property values in the city are in the Landing. “We need to put some enhancements in those residential and suburban areas,” said Carlisle.

Ed Forslund, Okanagan Landing chief, supports parts of the plan like standardized training, but he is against having his association not operating the hall. “At this point with the economy and the call volumes, it doesn’t require putting paid guys in the hall,” he said. “If you have two people sitting there and waiting for the alarm to go off, they can get the truck out faster. But when you do an assessment of our calls and attach a cost to it, it doesn’t make financial sense. It (volunteer hall) is a substantial cost-saving to all taxpayers in Vernon.” The business plan also calls for a volunteer hall to be opened at Predator Ridge and for substantial upgrades to the fire dispatch program.