Still in service
Downtown Summerside Fire Hall roof leaking again, but building remains functional
The pool table is covered by a tarp, memorabilia from the walls is in storage and garbage cans have been repurposed as water buckets to catch leaks. Oh, and the power is off to a section of the building as a precaution. But Summerside Fire Department Station 1 remains open and functional.
Recent weather has not been kind to the more than 50-yearold Summerside Fire Hall on Foundry Street.
A wind storm on Nov. 3 damaged part of the building’s roof, sending bits of debris crashing into neighbouring properties and damaging a Summerside Police Service vehicle that was parked nearby.
The holes in the roof were patched on Nov. 4, but significant rainfall on Nov. 5 saw water make its way through to the second floor of the building, caving in ceiling tiles and generally making a big wet mess.
Despite this, Fire Chief Jim Peters said the situation has not impacted the day-to-day operation of the fire hall – yet.
“It hasn’t affected the operations per se,” said Peters. “Not unless we get water coming right through to the first floor – but we haven’t got that yet.”
Peters said the area where the water came in is above the games room and bar on the second floor of the fire hall. It’s an area that has given them trouble before in terms of flooding. The ceiling tiles were mostly all replaced there only a few years ago after an even more severe flood.
“(The success of the patch work is) going to depend on the direction of the wind and how hard it rains until we get something a little more permanent.”
When that will be exactly is still something of a question. Summerside’s Chief Administrative officer, Bob Ashley, said the damage is covered “by and large” by the city’s insurance, but exactly what long-term repairs might be necessary are still being worked out.
Building a completely new fire hall has been on the agenda in Summerside for years. But a lack of federal funding has nipped any of those aspirations in the bud on a few occasions. It was a problem quoted frequently by the outgoing Summerside City Council whenever the subject of replacing the building was brought up. Mayor-elect Basil Stewart made replacing the fire hall one of his main election platform items.