On Sunday afternoon, the Campbell’s Bay-Litchfield Fire Department held a meet and greet for the public to discuss the recent fusion of their fire services with those in Bryson and L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet.
Fire Chief Kevin Kluke said that the agreement with the two neighbouring municipalities has been in the works for years, but finally came into effect this past July.
The primary issue facing most departments, Kluke said, is manpower especially during weekdays when many firefighters are working outside the community. He added with ever increasing government regulations, it has become harder for the part-time fire chiefs in the area to keep up with the demands of maintaining and certifying equipment.
“Again, the biggest problem is during the day, to get enough firefighters . . . ” he explained. “Neither of us could hit that goal all the time, so this way we’re hoping to hit it between the two of us. It’s not going to reduce the cost today, but we’re really hoping it’s going to have an impact on the cost to come [ . . . ] It’s going to take a lot of work and shuffling around to make it work but hopefully in a year from now things will be better.”
The individual departments will still respond to minor calls on their own territory, like a power line down, but will respond together to structure fires. The Municipality of Campbell’s Bay will administrate the department and draft an operating budget, with the member municipalities offering feedback.
Litchfield Mayor Colleen Larivière said that coordinating maintenance and capital expenditures, as well as pooling manpower would be a help to everyone once the details had been ironed out.
“One of the advantages is that we have one fire chief and he is going to be able to keep track of all the maintenance, upkeep, we make sure that everything is in conformity, ready to roll, that’s huge,” she said. “Then there’s the manpower. We can pull firemen from both other municipalities. I think it will give a better service, there will be some things to get used to, but I think it’s going to be good.”
Kluke said that the department would be putting a temporary pause on recruitment for a year to ensure it has sustainable numbers.
He noted there is pressure on all municipal fire services from the ministry of public security to coordinate more closely.
“The government’s been telling us, ‘Look if you don’t get together we’ll put you together,’” he said, adding that in the next municipal term there will be more discussions about sharing fire services elsewhere in the MRC.
New fire hall delayed
Campbell’s Bay director general Sarah Bertrand confirmed in an email that the new fire hall planned to be constructed next to Litchfield’s municipal garage had been temporarily delayed by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MAMH).
“The Municipality will launch the construction tender in mid-January, once we have authorization from MAMH, with work scheduled to begin next summer,” she wrote in an email. “We had originally planned to start construction this fall.”
