Vernon's controversial fire service plan has been put on the back burner for a couple weeks. City council members discussed the plan for an hour Monday but decided to table it until June 8th in order to get more details. Okanagan Landing fire chief Ed Forslund supports the delay but says whatever the city decides, his volunteers will be able to work with the city crews. "There's no issues with us working together. We're obviously doing the dual responses now and all the dual responses have been respectful. When it comes to business, there's no difference. We're there to provide a service and fight a fire."
One part of the plan calls for adding paid firefighters in the Landing. City fire chief Jeff Carlisle says its an emotional issue and he understands why council decided to take another two weeks. "I would have preferred council to have made a decision today so that we can start moving forward. There is a lot of emotion in this issue but another two weeks for council to be comfortable with what they're adopting, that's their discretion. They represent the people." Fire officials say only eight percent of a fire-fighter's job is fighting fires . The rest is first responses to accidents, along with fire hall and other duties.
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Starlee Speers - Vernon 105.7 SUN FM: Fire Vote Deferred
A proposed plan that would see the downtown Vernon fire hall take over the administration for the volunteer Landing fire hall will simmer another two weeks. Mayor Wayne Lippert says council has agreed to defer discussions until the first meeting in June. Lippert says despite accusations to the contrary at the public input meeting, the process hasn't been rushed. Lippert says councillors have been presented with a lot of information. He says councillors need time to take a breath and really think about what serves the community best.
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