Three Year Fire Deal

Peter McIntyre Wednesday, 10 February 2010 17:50107.5 KISSFM

All parties appear pleased with a a new three year contract and lease agreement between the city of Vernon and the Okanagan Landing Volunteer Fire Department. Landing firefighters are expected to sign the deal soon, and deputy fire chief Don Barta says their members are "very happy" with it and look forward to continued work with the downtown crew.Vernon chief Jeff Carlisle says the two will continue to back up each other on various calls but its not what some have termed "dual response." "We were never dual responding. What we did was normalize operations so when you have two or more stations, you back up each other on various calls depending on the information and that's still in existence. For example, if we had a call in the Lakeridge area and we knew it was a working fire, we would respond along with the Landing so that we have the appropriate level of resources to deal with that. If there was something that we knew was of a minor nature, like a smell of smoke in The Strand for example, the Landing would be able to handle that themselves." There was a period last year where the two stations were not getting along but Carlisle says relations have improved since council decided last March to continue with a volunteer station in the Landing. He says the departments will try to improve response times. "We exist to serve the public and part of that is our emergency response times and we're going to continue to look at that and work with the Landing Association to make sure we're providing the optimal level of service based on the resources council has provided us."

Mayor Wayne Lippert is pleased with the deal. It provides opportunities to enhance the working relationships, and ultimately provide a high level of fire service that is efficient and effective." Since 1993 when the Landing was annexed into Vernon, the city has contracted the Association to provide fire suppression services.