Fire Master Plan meets mixed response
Posted Mar 4, 2010 By Craig Bakay
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Tweet ThisEMC News "The Fire Master Plan is based upon the premise that our practices are effective on meeting the needs of what we're required to do," Central Frontenac Fire Chief Mark MacDonald told the regular Committee of the Whole meeting in Sharbot Lake last week. "The good news in Central Frontenac is we're right on track."
MacDonald said the Township has "put ourselves in good shape" with capital needs and is focusing on the demographic and geographic realities of the Township.
"Our seasonal residents are growing and a lot are building homes in more remote parts of the Township," he said. "The (average) age is getting older with people retiring here and with the geography we have to cover, we have to make sure our fire stations are located well.
"We simply can't have a fire station on every corner."
One area the department has been working on is response times and how much water they can deliver to certain spots in a given amount of time. If they can get that to a certain standard, there should be benefits to ratepayers on their home insurance.
"Superior water shuttle accreditation will benefit most of our constituents," he said. "One of our members just went through it and saved $500.
"Ultimately each homeowner will have to deal with their own insurer but we're gunning for standards most insurers will respect."
Another factor MacDonald is trying to address is the CP train line that bisects the Township into north and south zones.
"We have experienced delays in the event of a train issue, mostly on Wagerville Road and Road 38," he said. "Our four main stations are north of that line.
"For structure fires, we send two vehicles from each of two stations and tankers from the other two.
"The Parham station is undersized and has its issues such as the well also supplying the ball diamond but the other three of four stations are good."
Mayor Janet Gutowski suggested that the Parham ambulance station may move to Sharbot Lake and that may open up opportunities.
"I'm very disappointed in what the County decided," said Coun. Norm Guntensperger.
"Yeah, some guy came out and made a speech but that's about it," said Coun. Bill Snyder.
"What the taxpayer sees is $750,000 for a new ambulance station in Sharbot Lake and $600,000 for a new fire hall," said Coun. Gary Smith. "We cannot continue to come up with grandiose plans to build new buildings with the resources we have."
"I've never seen a fire master plan before so I didn't know what to expect but I think this one is well done," said Coun. Frances Smith. "It's not 333 pages to go through and it makes sense."
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