Heated dispute erupts over Landing firefighting

Published: March 31, 2009 7:00 PM Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star

The City of Vernon is being accused of breaking an agreement over firefighting in Okanagan Landing. Council members were told during a budget input meeting Monday that the city agreed to maintain a volunteer fire department when the Landing was annexed in 1993. “We thought we had a deal, a deal’s a deal,” said Pat Lett, who led the pro-annexation campaign. Presently, a business plan recommends that Okanagan Landing no longer have an autonomous fire hall and that it fall under the jurisdiction of the downtown hall. Lett insists a referendum would be required among Landing residents, and that view is supported by Klaus Tribes, who was on city council at the time of annexation. “If the Landing wants a different type of fire protection, it’s up to them to initiate it,” said Tribes. If the business plan proceeds, two full-time firefighters could be at the Landing hall at all times, but resident Darlene Hainer says the volunteers provide a sufficient service. “Any number of paid firefighters will not make it any faster (to a blaze),” she said.

Terry Fossey says two firefighters translates into 10 for all shifts and two cannot go into a burning building themselves. “Things will keep snowballing,” he said of costs. Jim Inglis suggested that the plan is a result of pressure from unionized firefighters. “They have no vested interest than jobs and job security and adding to it,” he said. During a presentation, Landing fire chief Ed Forslund stated that his crew has an average of 50 to 70 call-outs a year, including one or two serious structure fires. “We aren’t ready to have full-time career staff at the Landing hall. Our call volumes don’t warrant it.”

However, other speakers supported the business plan. “We’re talking life safety here. Anything that we can get to improve response times would make us all happy,” said Jim Dubois. Brent Bond, Vernon Professional Firefighters Association president, says public safety should be considered with the business plan and not tradition or money. “Nowhere in the business case have the volunteer firefighters from the Landing been removed from the fire service,” he said, adding that 7.3 per cent of the city’s budget goes to fire protection when the provincial average is 10 per cent. Based on Monday’s debate, Bond believes there is a need for further public discussion. “It shows that people require an information session because there is a lot of misinformation about the fire service,” he said.

While the business plan has not been approved by council yet, city administration recently initiated dual response, where both firefighters from the Landing and Vernon halls could respond to the same incident. That has angered Barry Beardsell, a former councillor.“If they (staff) did that without the permission of council, they should be down the road,” he said.Mayor Wayne Lippert admits he has mixed feelings about how dual response was implemented. “They were fully within their mandate but it would have been nice if council was made aware of it. They are charged with giving the best services with the resources they have,” he said of staff.