TBL and Sutton put Mireault at head
After 42 years of service, including 30 with the fire department of Brome Lake (TBL), Pierre Laplante, the town’s fire chief, will be hanging up his hat at the end of August. His departure has forced the TBL administration to restructure its fire department. After due consideration, a pilot project involving a two-year agreement between Sutton and TBL has been crafted to pool administrative resources regarding fire safety. Sutton’s current Fire Safety Director Donald Mireault will head TBL’S fire department as well.
Mireault insists that this plan is not considered as a merger. Rather, it is an administrative pooling to facilitate the two services and all their work.
“We will have an efficient and high quality management, but this plan is simply a pooling of the two services to facilitate the work that must be done,” he said. The protocol for Brome, Abercorn and Glen Sutton remains the same. Emergency calls from Brome, Abercorn and Glen Sutton are made to Sutton. Similarly, West Bolton residents should call TBL and if backup would be needed each of the other respective fire departments would be called to intervene. The goal is to standardize intervention procedures making training more effective. The teams will train together and the two municipalities will be able to plan together the purchase of specialized equipment, in particular, vehicles. There is an aspect of cost saving within this plan, but mayors and town managers emphasize that the financial benefits are not the primary reason for this restructuration.
TBL’S Director General Gilbert Arel assures everyone that the decision is not related to budget. Rather, the agreement is in keeping with the Quebec government’s direction regarding inter-municipal cooperation to improve fire prevention and control. He says that, “It also respects the responsibilities
mandated by the implementation of the Quebec fire safety cover plan. Above all, it will broaden services in the two signatory municipalities and those that are served currently by them, namely West Bolton, Abercorn, Glen Sutton, and Brome.” However, he does see that the consolidation of administrative services should result in a certain level of economizing. How much is yet to be determined, he said, emphasizing that he primary goal of the exercise is to improve the quality of service.
According to Sutton’s Mayor Louis Dandenault, “This new deal serves to maintain each of the signatories’ autonomy while significantly increasing fire prevention and control services for the population of the five municipalities which we serve.”
Each of the towns will continue to manage its first response teams. Alan Bowbrick has already taken over the respective duties in TBL while Marc-antoine Fortier of Sutton will assume the role of fire prevention coordinator and first responders coordinator.
“We have to always think of the future,” said TBL Mayor Richard Burcombe. “This is an excellent opportunity with Sutton. The towns already work together in some situations. I am very satisfied with the collaborative approach. By combining the strength of both of the municipalities, we create a win-win situation for all.” Several scenarios had been examined, including hiring a parttime director. Instead, elected officials chose to pool their administrative resources considering the already existing close cooperation between the two municipalities regarding fire services and civil protection.
TBL will enjoy the services not only of its current prevention officer Nathalie Michaud, but those of Sutton’s expert Fortier who took his training at Collège Montmorency as well. For their part, Sutton residents will now be able to rely on a new TBL employee, whose time will be divided equally between the two municipalities, and work on mandatory residential inspections and other required tasks.
Pierre Largy, executive director of Sutton, says that since a massive fire that razed 36 buildings in the heart of Sutton almost 120 years ago, fire has been a major preoccupation for the residents in the Sutton area. Sparks that drifted beyond the blazing lumberyard on the banks of the Sutton River and setting some bales of hay were all it took to take down many more structures. He says that the town always welcomes any plan that can provide a more efficient service to its community.
“We have to have a collective mind in case we have a big catastrophe,” explained Dandenault referring the more recent tragedies at Lac-megantic when the oil tankers that derailed exploded, decimating the core of their town. He also reminded everyone about the lives lost in the retirement home in L’ile Verte. “We don’t want something like this to happen again.”
Recruitment and retention is a growing challenge for municipal fire departments. Mireault mentioned that the Town of Sutton implemented a pilot program last fall with cadet firefighters between 16 and 18. “We anticipated about four or five recruits and ended up with 15.” People in their 20s are hard to recruit. They are working, have young families and not a lot of extra time to spare. He believes that they need to catch recruits at a younger age. Ideally, Mireault says, it would be great to offer the course in the high schools. Many of the municipalities have firemen with an average age of 45 years old. Mireault says that to become a qualified firefighter one must follow 175 hours of training. To become an officer the course is 360 hours.
By sharing a single leadership, Mr. Mireault believes, the two departments will work more closely together to improve their work. The idea of joining the forces of the two municipalities has been in the air for two years. Mireault is hoping that with single leadership the two fire departments will develop a closer relationship. It is not a new idea. With Laplante’s retirement it seemed like the right time to take the opportunity to give it a try. With a history of working together, firefighters from both municipalities fight side by side averaging between 20 and 30 fires annually. “We are municipalities with large territories, with lakes and mountains. We have quite the same DNA,” Mireault said.