Station relocation, integrated services recommended in fire master plan

A relocated Station 1, enhanced training and a more integrated service are among the recommendations in Chatham-Kent’s fire master plan.

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Council voted to accept the report for information on Monday. Specific requests will come before council for approval throughout the duration of the 10-year plan.

“We want to bring to you the concept, and then in future years and future budget processes, we can bring to you some of the details, if it comes up for implementation,” Fire Chief Chris Case said.

Dillon received the contract in 2020, with a community risk assessment completed in 2022, which helped inform the fire master plan.

The process consisted of interviews with municipal and fire service staff, the firefighters association, volunteers and community stakeholders, along with workshops and surveys.

Suzanne Charbonneau-Dent, of Dillon Consulting, gave the presentation, saying there are still pre-amalgamation challenges, including a lack of standardization.

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“Although Chatham-Kent fire and rescue is comprised of both volunteer and career firefighters, the current operational services are not fully integrated,” she said.

“There are numerous examples where career and volunteer firefighters work and train independently … and are not simultaneously deployed together, sometimes not the closest station response that’s typically delivered within a fire department.”

The plan recommends the fire service consult with other municipal departments to identify and acquire a site for the relocation of Station 1 to south Chatham, and that it be designed to accommodate career and volunteer firefighters.

A third Chatham station would also be considered in the future, given the potential for community growth.

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Some of the master plan’s other recommendations include, but aren’t limited to:

• Consideration be given to developing a community risk reduction plan and comprehensive fire prevention policy
• Continue to enhance current firefighter training to include an in-house certification process to provide the required certification of all career and volunteer firefighters
• Consideration be given to implementing a strategy to provide access to live fire training on an annual basis for all career and volunteer firefighters
• Implement a recruitment and retention strategy to sustain a minimum complement of 24 volunteer firefighters at all stations staffed with volunteers
• Consider revising the title of volunteer firefighters to ‘volunteer paid on-call firefighters,’ to further enhance the volunteer recruitment program
• Look into the proposed organizational structure and staff resource strategies in developing a comprehensive implementation plan
• Investigate the major fire suppression apparatus needs of the potential third urban fire station as part of the proposed major fire suppression apparatus fleet rationalization process
• Conduct a review of dispatch needs, services and solutions provided by the existing provider and conduct an investigative review of potential service delivery options/alternatives.

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Also recommended is the adoption of the proposed fire suppression performance objectives related to response time:

• Urban demand zone (Chatham): 15 firefighters arriving on scene within a nine-minute turnout time plus travel time (to 90 per cent of fire suppression incidents)
• Rural demand zone (remainder of municipality): six firefighters arriving on scene within a 14-minute turnout time plus travel time (to 80 per cent of fire suppression incidents)
• Chatham Coun. Marjorie Crew said with the plan four years in the making, there was much information for council to digest.

She noted there would be further discussions once the funding requests return.

“It’s very important for everyone to… look at this as a roadmap for our emergency services in the future,” she said. “Those things all come back to budget.”

Case said the fire service also has to be practical in determining what is realistic to achieve.

“There’s a lot of things in there saying what we should be doing, and I think collectively we have to work out what we can be doing,” he said.

To view the full fire master plan, visit https://pub-chatham-kent.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=14235

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