Prince Edward County councillors want no part of a Fire Optimization Report presented to the Committee of the Whole on Thursday.
Phil Dawson, a consultant from Emergency Management Group presented work done so far on a Community Risk Assessment, Fire Optimization Plan and Station Location Mapping.
While the Community Risk Assessment is a provincial requirement due by next summer, councillors were not pleased with the Optimization Plan which recommends relocating the Wellington fire station, amalgamating Bloomfield and Milford Stations and relocating them to the Cherry Valley
area, and closing stations in Ameliasburgh and Cressy.
area, and closing stations in Ameliasburgh and Cressy.
Dawson told council these changes would enhance resource placement, improve response times and address growth and service needs.
Councillor Brad Nieman says the Optimizaton Plan is unneccessary.
“What I see in this report is nothing but spending money, closing halls, building new halls, moving equipment and everything else. As far as I’m concerned we don’t need no part of that. What we have works. And, we were to do a risk assessment, not a full fire plan.”
Other councillors like Roy Pennell voiced concerns about residents’ insurance rates rising if they ended up further away from a fire hall.
“I checked with several insurance companies. They’re talking the length of roughly eight kilometres or five miles and I went out and did some driving this morning and some of the proposals in there are not even remotely close.”
Mayor Steve Ferguson made a motion asking for more public input on the matter before the report would be finalized, including online surveys and a public meeting, however, that motion was voted down.
Instead, council voted in favour of a motion by Councillor Phil Prinzen to discontinue the Fire Optimization Plan.
The Community Risk Assessment will come forward to council at a later date.
The decision must still receive final approval at council’s next meeting on June 27.
The report, as part of the Committee of the Whole agenda, can be read here.
