City Officials Stand By Fire Plan

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Thursday, 23 August 2012 17:10  
Vernon's acting mayor doesn't see a need to reconsider a decision to end the city's contract with the Okanagan Landing Firefighters Association. A majority of the Landing volunteers say they will quit over over the city's plan to merge them into the Vernon department, calling it shameful, and a slap in the face. Councillor Juliette Cunningham--who is a Landing resident--feels the new model will provide better coverage, and will train all firefighters to the same standard. "I can't speak for the rest of council, but I feel a lot of time and effort went into looking at all aspects of this situation, and to me it's something we have to do to move forward." Cunningham is committed to the new model of service delivery which council approved in a 4-3 vote behind closed doors in July. "The volunteers have done a tremendous job, but the way it stands, all of our career firefighters and volunteers aren't trained at the same time, or the same level." Cunningham says council is still committed to keeping volunteer members at the Landing, and the soon to be built Predator Ridge fire halls. "I hope they reconsider. There's huge potential and opportunity for them to be contributing members to the service." Vernon fire chief Keith Green says he has a contingency plan should the Landing firefighters resign, which he will outline to council September 10th. He tells Kiss FM,"We have not received any correspondence from Okanagan Landing to date (on their latest concerns), but I want to clarify, Vernon Fire Rescue's priority is public safety, and I'm confident we can handle all emergencies when called upon." Green would not comment on claims by the Landing group, that it took dispatch 17 minutes to call the OLFD to the Rise grass fire last week. "You want to bring those challenges into a room and discuss them as a group. Generally we don't do that through the media, so this is kind of one of the very reasons why we're moving forward with this initiative, to bring our teams together."
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 Okanagan Landing firefighters vote to retire rather than join Vernon fire hall  

 Doris Bregoslisse, CHBC News : Thursday, August 23, 2012 8:10 PM

For Vernon residents, it’s been no secret that Okanagan Landing volunteer fire fighters have been less than happy with the new fire response model in the North Okanagan city.  But their dissent has grown: a secret ballot was taken by the crew of 28 this week to decide if they should become City of Vernon volunteers or abandon the hall that they’ve manned for almost 40 years. The majority voted to retire when their contracts are up January 31, 2013. “I don’t think that the Vernon Fire Fighter’s Association will provide what I came here for,” said Todd Montgomery to CHBC News prior to the vote Tuesday night. In a statement to some Vernon media following the vote, Okanagan Landing volunteers said they can’t support a fire response model that puts the public at greater risk. Vernon Fire Chief Keith Green says the vote result is disappointing. “It’s disappointing that some choose or would choose not to belong to your team, but that’s a personal decision for them and I understand,” says Green. Green says Okanagan Landing residents will be fully covered by Vernon fire crews. “Vernon Fire Rescue is confident that we can respond to any and all emergencies with our crews,” says Green. “We have close to 45 fire fighters out of this station.” Acting Vernon Mayor Juliette Cunningham believes the new fire response model is better for Okanagan Landing residents, like her. “I live in the Landing and I think we’ll be better served in the long run,” said Cunningham. “There will be some consistency in their training with the integrated model that’s being presented.” Cunningham says the City of Vernon has to learn more about the level of fire fighting proficiency among the Okanagan Landing volunteers before they allow them to be independent of Vernon fire response, information that they have yet to obtain from the fire hall.  “It makes sense that the person who we’ve charged with fire protective services, that he should have some level of control around that,” said Cunningham. “As we move forward to this plan, that there will be more opportunities for volunteers. Once we know what level of training is, they will perhaps have more opportunity to take on a fire on their own without the back up of the main fire hall.” All Okanagan Landing fire volunteers were busy with their day jobs to comment to CHBC News Thursday.