GETTING STARTED
‘We’re going to be looking at the current inventory of apparatus throughout CBRM’
CBRM moving ahead with fire service review.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality is moving ahead with the first steps of putting the findings of its fire service review into effect.
And the first move will be prioritizing areas including looking at how much implementing recommendations would cost.
George Muise, the region’s EMO emergency planning officer, presented an update on the process to the CBRM’s fire and emergency services committee this week. The fire service advisory committee held its initial meeting last month to set priorities and identify areas for budget consideration, Muise said.
Consultant Manitou Inc. conducted the organizational review of the fire service and its findings were presented to council last year.
“The Manitou report, we agree that further data was required to initiate or even talk about some of the other recommendations,” Muise said.
Marie Wash, chief financial officer and acting CAO, has been charged with reviewing the current funding model and developing possible recommendations for council.
“Some of these recommendations are going to require some funding models over the next few budget years and there was some discussion about how are we going to come up with the funds in order to implement some of these recommendations,” Muise said.
Director of fire services Bernie MacKinnon and John MacKinnon, the municipality’s director of technology, will work to see how that need for data can be implemented with the dispatch centre and look at what other information must be collected. Muise will also look at the potential cost of involving all fire departments in that collection.
Other issues they intend to
look at initially are the need to develop vehicle specifications for urban and rural fire apparatus, a draft replacement plan for apparatus, developing operating standards, and how much it would cost for additional training props and options for a training facility.
“We’re going to be looking at the current inventory of apparatus throughout CBRM and then trying to create a logical plan for the future,” Muise said.
He said reviews of those items are due to be completed by September and will be brought back to the fire advisory committee for discussion.
The intention is to pick a few priorities to focus on in the short term in preparation for next year’s budget, Muise said.
Last July, the CBRM approve having Muise, the region’s EMO emergency planning officer, an employee of the province, oversee the implementation of the fire and emergency services organizational review.
The study is the beginning of a process that could unfold over several years.
The service is currently a mix of professional, volunteer and composite departments.
The review indicated that the service as it exists is not tenable and changes will need to be made to make it more sustainable.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality Fire Service covers 2,470 square kilometres in the CBRM, including 34 fire departments and one hazardous materials response team.