Council stifles Kelowna firefighting expansion plans

CHBC News, Kelowna : Thursday, November 29, 2012 3:00 PM
The City of Kelowna spends $13.2 million annually on its fire department, the second most expensive municipal cost next to policing. There are 96 full-time firefighters in Kelowna and 50 volunteers who are paid on-call. Volunteers operate in three of the city’s 10 stations. But expansion plans are coming head-to-head with penny pinching politicians who question if more volunteer firefighters will help the city meet increasing emergency response demands. Jeff Carlisle, chief of the Kelowna Fire Department, recently presented a 10-year strategic plan to Kelowna City Council. The plan included better response time for more of the city, but shorter response times for more neighbourhoods would mean the addition of two more manned stations. “In our analysis, we did considerable effort to quantify the risks in areas where there’s a gap in coverage,” said Carlisle. “In particular, the north end of the city, around UBCO and the airport as well as the KLO/Gordon/Pandosy area.” Building, equipping and manning the two halls would cost the city upwards of $8 million plus an additional $4 million a year for staff.  “If you’re going to save money, how do you do it? To us, the most obvious way would be to make better use of the volunteers,” said Kelowna mayor Walter Gray. But Carlisle disagrees. He says career firefighters can respond to emergencies within 80 seconds out of the stations but it takes between five and seven minutes for volunteer firefighters. Former Kelowna fire chief and current city councilor Gerry Zimmerman says he would like to see resources increased downtown, where call volumes show they are needed the most. “The city looks different than it did before so does that create new challenges for a fire department? Sure it does. Does that create more costs? Probably that too,” he said. Carlisle will now work with city staff to answer questions to help bring forward a new plan that works to protect the city and its cheque book.