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Fire service keeps insurance rates low

Replacing aging stations key to maintaining grade levels

Aging firehalls need to be replaced in order to maintain insurance rates within the City of Powell River, according to Chief Dan Ouellette.

The firehall in Wildwood is key to how the Fire Underwriters’ Survey ranks fire service in the community, Ouellette said during a presentation to council during the March 1 committee-of-the-whole budget meeting. Yet it was built in the late 1940s and has structural issues. “We’ve had an engineer come in and give us some advice as to how to fix the building because essentially part of it was falling over. We have since fixed that, however it does speak to the health of the building. We really do have to address that at some point.”

The department doesn’t use the Cranberry firehall, which currently houses one piece of fire apparatus and offices for Emergency Social Services and Powell River Search and Rescue. School District 47 leases space there as well.

Since the building doesn’t offer a lot in terms of what the fire service requires, Ouellette said he’d like to see discussions start soon about selling it. “Perhaps some of the proceeds or money we got from selling that building could be used to fund a new station.”

The firehall on Courtenay Street was built in the late 1950s and is a small structure that doesn’t house all of the department’s equipment, Ouellette said. “When we moved there in the 1990s, it was with the understanding that a new fire station would be built within several years.”

None of the buildings are post-disaster structures, Ouellette said. “Any of these buildings, in terms of an earthquake or disaster, would likely not survive very well and it’s really going to affect how we respond, obviously.”

The city and Powell River Regional District have developed a regional emergency program recently and there is now one coordinator. “That has been very successful and I would like to see more of that dialogue in terms of the fire service.”

As demographics change one of the issues facing both the city and regional district is the increased difficulty attracting and retaining auxiliary members. “Collectively, I think we could share resources and provide a much better fire service for this region. I really believe that is something we need to address as time goes on.”

Providing fire service in a manner that is recognized by the Fire Underwriters Survey for fire insurance grade ratings significantly offsets the costs of providing fire protection, Ouellette said. The Wildwood station is key in maintaining good grade ratings, he added. “If we were to drop from a fully protected grade, which we have for the most part, to a semi-protected grade, it would increase insurance rates just for residential by $1.4 million. That’s $290 per resident in additional cost.”

Mayor Dave Formosa said citizens often raise the issue of changing to a volunteer fire department. The first issue, he said, would be how to keep a sufficient level of volunteer service, which is dependent on people being willing to join. As well, the city’s budget for auxiliary service would have to increase.

Formosa also pointed out that Powell River has a small fire department. For examples, he pointed to Port Alberni and Campbell River, both of which have 24 to 26 paid firefighters, while Powell River has 12. “We’re running half in this community, which I think attests to the restraint we’ve been going through, holding back, but also attests to the great job. The fire department has managed to, with a smaller crew, keep our rates. I take my hat off to these folks.”

Ouellette will be making more presentations to council in the future about all of these issues.