The Rural Municipality of North Battleford is promising a seamless transition to a new volunteer fire department. (file photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Tyler Marr

PUBLIC SAFETY

R.M. anticipates seamless transition to volunteer fire department

Mar 16, 2019 | 12:00 PM

The Rural Municipality of North Battleford says it will be ready to tackle an array of emergencies with its newly-formed volunteer fire department come April 1.

“I think it is an exciting time,” Administer Debbie Arsenault said. “Any time you start a new endeavour and you are able to provide for your ratepayers on your own, I think it is exciting.”

The City of North Battleford confirmed earlier this week it will cease to provide fire services to the rural municipality as of March 31.

The state of the partnership was first brought into question early in 2019, when a five-year agreement to supply the R.M. with service from the city’s department ended on Dec. 31.

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A press release from the city in January said negotiations between the governments on a new agreement had reached an impasse. This came as a slight shock to the rural body, as they were under the impression talks would be ongoing until a new deal could be ratified.

The city was requesting an increase in funding to the tune of $220,000 per year for five years, with the potential for increases throughout. The previous agreement saw the R.M. pay a total of $775,000, though the total costs for actual services tallied just around $200,000, calculated from monthly reports outlining what the city’s department responded to. The annual surplus was not returned.

The city initially offered to provide service on an on-call basis until Feb. 28 and extended this deadline to the end of March in late January. Each call was individually billed to the rural government.

Arsenault said the R.M. received a letter from the city earlier this month informing them services would end in a few weeks.

“We knew we had a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time,” she said. “But we were fortunate enough to hire a very experienced fire chief … and he has been working diligently trying to get everything up and going.”

The R.M. has hired Neil Good to head the department and recruit 21 volunteers. Four have prior department experience. Arsenault said an engine has been found and the R.M. will obtain a water tanker on the city’s fleet they had previously purchased and loaned out.

She said the new volunteer department will be equipped to handle structure fires, wildland fires, carbon dioxide calls, vehicle extrication, search and rescue, and STARS Air Ambulance landings out of the gate. They anticipate their staff will be trained to handle hazmat fire inspections and EMS assistance at a later date.

Arsenault previously told battlefordsNOW that establishing and managing a volunteer department could be “in the best interest of the ratepayers” and “would be more cost efficient.”

She stood by this statement, calling the startup costs “justifiable,” while “the increase that the city was asking for just wasn’t.”

But the rural administrator thanked the city for providing fire services over the past number of years.

“You were able to rest easy knowing you did have a professional fire service on call when needed,” she said, adding the R.M. hopes the two parties can one day enter into a mutual aid agreement.

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr