Council committee votes to reopen Rossdale fire station
Site to deal with river rescue, downtown backup
City councillors voted Tuesday to reopen the Rossdale fire station, stationing a fulltime crew at the site for river rescue and to backup crews downtown.
“River valley rescue is something we need to do in this city. It does make a lot of sense to have a crew dedicated to that,” said Coun. Ben Henderson, who lives within two blocks of the site.
“It does not make sense to do it anywhere else but here.”
All five councillors on the community services committee supported the decision. The issue now advances to a full city council vote next week. Funds for a dedicated crew would be debated at budget time.
The station has been unstaffed since fire training moved out in the late 1990s. But Fire Chief Ken Block has been arguing that the station needs to be reopened to shorten river rescue response times, especially as the city opens more boat launches and river use increases. It currently takes 10 to 15 minutes for crews to get from Mill Creek to the boat launch in Rossdale, open the station and get on the water.
A new crew stationed in Rossdale would also serve as backup for downtown, responding to the 250 to 300 calls a year that downtown stations are currently too busy to take on.
Block said reopening the station would cost $3.7 million while building a boat launch and station at a new location would cost between $11 million and $13 million.
Tuesday’s vote followed a public hearing, where 13 residents signed up to speak for and against the proposal.
Resident Dan Scott said he would be pleased to have rescue trucks return to the neighbourhood. “That’s going to help all of Rossdale,” he said. “I feel the added noise will actually be quite minimal.”
Darcey-Lynn Marc supported that. It’s a cost effective way to decrease response times for river rescue and help cover emergencies downtown, she said. Plus, having the fire crews in the neighbourhood will increase safety.
“It just feels good to have the presence of a 24-7 station,” she said.
Those speaking against reopening the station said the site was not needed since fire crews only respond to about 60 river rescue calls a year.
Rossdale resident Tom Bedore objected to Rossdale being used as a backup facility for downtown.
“Have you tried to get downtown from Rossdale recently during rush hour?” he said. “It’s not so easy.”
Rick Ewasiak questioned investing in any infrastructure beside the river. Looking at flooding in southern Alberta, he said, “please don’t embarrass the city by putting a rescue station in the flood plain.”
Resident Gabe Shelley suggested many other cities have multiple boat launches served by stations that are close, but not attached to the boat launch. When the river levels rose last weekend, fire crews responded to one incident in Beverly, then another near Fort Edmonton Park, he said.
“Does one site in Rossdale truly sound like the best option?”