January 26, 2011
Fire agreement called
off
by Vance Gutzman
Deep River will not be relying on Laurentian Hills for firefighting
assistance through the provision of an automatic aid agreement.
The town's chief administrative officer, Michelle Larose, confirmed as
much last week.
"At this time, no further discussions will take place with reference to
entering into an automatic aid agreement between the town of Deep River
and the town of Laurentian Hills," Larose stated in a report to council.
The CAO's report was submitted to council in open session.
A week earlier, Larose had submitted a report to council which she had
hoped to discuss in closed session, but council members, in a recorded
vote, opted to have Larose redraft her report for public consumption.
Deep River and Laurentian Hills have been cooperating since last fall
under the auspices of a verbal agreement, whereby Laurentian Hills
firefighters are called in immediately to assist their Deep River
counterparts in the event of a structure or high-risk fire call.
The Ontario Fire Marshal's office (OFM) recommended that agreement be
put in place following a tragic house fire in October which claimed the
life of a three-year-old boy.
The verbal agreement was to have been replaced with a formal agreement,
but issues with unionized workers appear to have scuppered any chance
of that happening.
In her report to council, Larose claims that, on December 17, she
received notification that Laurentian Hills had terminated the verbal
agreement.
She said it was further learned that the president of the AECL
Firefighters Association had been contacted by that association's
union, with the instructions that any of their members who also serve
as volunteers with the Laurentian Hills fire department were not
allowed to respond to calls for the town of Deep River.
Larose did not specify in her report whether that meant the AECL
firefighters were not allowed to respond to automatic aid calls, or
mutual aid calls as well.
Scrolling through the chronology of what happened next, Larose stated
that she contacted the OFM to advise them of the development and to
seek advice in return.
It was determined, according to the CAO, that Laurentian Hills fire
chief Kevin Waito did not have the authority to terminate the verbal
automatic aid agreement by himself, and that such a decision would have
to be made by his municipal council.
Subsequently, Larose states, she was advised that the verbal agreement
would remain in place until January 31.
A meeting was then held on January 6, in which she and Deep River fire
chief Jim Hogue met with Laurentian Hills CAO Wayne Kirby and fire
chief Waito "to begin discussions for the negotiation of a formal
automatic aid agreement".
Larose concluded her chronology with the afore-mentioned statement that
no further discussions will take place between the to municipalities.
Discuss options
Larose, who read her report to council as practically the full
complement of Deep River firefighters looked on as spectators,
went on to say that the town would start looking at all its options the
very next day (last Thursday, January 20).
That was when she and chief Hogue had scheduled a meeting with the
town's firefighters "to engage discussions for options to ensure that
the municipality can deliver the appropriate level of fire education,
protection and suppression services, as well as ensuring the health and
safety of our fire department staff."
"We'll be reporting back to council on what comes out of that meeting,"
Larose said.
Because of the importance of the matter, and time-sensitivity involved,
council acted on a suggestion by Councillor Chris Carroll, following
Larose's report, that it establish an ad hoc committee to help expedite
the process of figuring out the future of the town's fire department.
"I think that setting up some sort of temporary committee of council
for reports and discussions would be beneficial in bridging the gap to
address this particular issue," Carroll said.
It was decided that Carroll and Councillor Ruth Syme will sit on that
committee.
Councillor Terry Myers said he was happy to see that the firefighters
themselves were being involved in the discussions regarding the fire
service.
"I'm glad to see they're being engaged directly," Myers said, adding
that the discussions should also take a look at the fire services
review that was undertaken by the previous council, way back in 2006.
The conclusion of the fire review report noted that the recommendation
to begin “negotiations / discussions” on an automatic aid agreement “is
directed to enhancing the Deep River fire department's response to
residential and other structural fires.”
The 2006 report also noted that the recommendation to enter into an
automatic aid agreement would take "two to three" years to implement,
but no further actions on developing an agreement were taken, in fact,
until the events of this past fall.
And, while he was pleased that discussions with the firefighters were
to take place, Myers then posed the question that was on a lot of
people's minds.
"Where are we at, as of January 31, as far as providing fire service to
the community?" he asked.
"At this point I can't give you a definite answer," Larose replied,
suggesting that mutual aid may be examined further.
"There may still be some options."
Mayor David Thompson said after the meeting he was confident that the
town and its firefighters could work "in a cooperative manner to
demonstrate leadership in creating a long-term and sustainable solution
for the provision of firefighting services in a cost-effective manner."
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