Alternative location suggested for new fire hall in Glenmore

Consultant says hall should be built near corner of Glenmore and Watson roads

The best location for a new Kelowna fire hall is near the corner of Glenmore Road and Watson Road, city council heard Monday.

That location is about five kilometres south of where the city has been planning for a station, at the corner of Glenmore Road and John Hindle Drive.

“We’re near to needing a station in Glenmore,” consultant Daniel Haight of Darkhorse Analytics, who studied the frequency and distribution of calls to settle on a recommended location.

A station near Glenmore-Watson would improve call response much more than one near Glenmore-Hindle, Haight said.

The timetable for construction of a Glenmore fire hall is uncertain, however. The city’s long-range infrastructure plan once pegged its construction in 2024, but former fire chief Jeff Carlisle appealed unsuccessfully last year for it to be brought forward to 2017.

During last year’s budget deliberations, council voted to convert a small existing Glenmore fire hall to a fully staffed station in 2018. That was based on the belief that Glenmore-John Hindle would be the best location for a new fire hall.

In the short term, deploying additional resources at the main Enterprise Way would produce the widest coverage and response time benefits, Haight said.

In his report to council, Haight suggested a new Glenmore fire hall might be built as part of a publicprivate partnership, with the station designed as part of a new development that also includes residential or commercial components.

The Kelowna Fire Department responds to about 11,000 calls a year, about two-thirds of which are medical in nature.

Call volumes at each Kelowna station are much higher than in many other cities, council heard. About one-third of calls from Glenmore are from two retirement complexes.

Haight said the city should approach the owners of the retirement complexes to see if they’re willing to provide medical services, such as a nurse or on-call physician, so the fire department doesn’t have to be summoned for events such as a senior falling down.

Deputy city manager Joe Creron said the city should consider extrabilling retirement complexes that generate many medical calls.