NEWS FILE PHOTO
Local officials are seen at the ribbon cutting to Fire Station No. 2 on Trans-Canada Way in 2017. A subsidy for spinklers in homes built in the new Coulee Ridge sub-division has brought talk of when the city will need a new fire hall.
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
Fire department response times are once again a hot topic in Medicine Hat just two years after a multi-million-dollar plan moved two firehalls to fill gaps in coverage areas.
This week, city council approved a grant program to install resident sprinklers in a south-end subdivision that sits outside standard response times.
That’s also outside areas forecast for even mid-term housing construction in 2013 when council endorsed a fire department plan to augment its response times by building two new stations closer to new communities.
Related:Fire service response for new community issue a long time in the making
Council members passed the grant stating it would bolster economic growth while delaying the need to build a new fire station, the city’s fourth, nearby at a potential cost of $9 million, then $3 million per year to operate.
But fire service officials say that another station will be required at some point, and would likely be placed in the city’s northwest.
City elected officials however, say requiring sprinkler systems in new homes in outlaying areas could delay that need for decades.
“I can see this delaying a fourth station for many, many, many years,” said Mayor Ted Clugston, who passionately backed the grant program.
“The present three stations can cover the existing city.”
“It’s either a $100,000 giveaway or how the city saved $10 million (for a station). What a positive news story.”
Fire officials who endorsed the sprinkler plan however, said that as the city expands, new stations will need to be considered.
“It’s a fair and balanced approach, … a great way to help cities grow with a minimal amount of cost,” said fire chief Brian Stauth of the sprinkler program.
“We will have a new station at some point. Residential growth is not high … but as we see communities grow, and it could be some point well into the future, we’ll ask council to support the construction and staffing of a fourth station.
“Ideally it would be in the northwest as residential communities grow there.”
That relates to the planned residential Brier Run community, near the Family Leisure Centre in northwest Crescent Heights, but also the Box Springs Business Park.
In 2012, councillors objected to a proposal to add a fourth station in the south while at the same time coverage in the expanding northeast raised public concerns.
The result was a plan to build two stations, rather than one, but further out from the city centre to cover suburbs while closing two existing stations and cancelling planned renovation projects.
The higher initial capital cost was accepted as a way to avoid much higher operating costs going forward.
Coun. Phil Turnbull was a key driver behind the relocation plan, and said this week that the city should examine all ways – including sprinklers – to reduce the need to build new stations.
“We’d have to really get into the details of where a new station would go,” he said. “But also really need to find out what other communities are using sprinklers (in new developments).”
That echos questions by Coun. Jamie McIntosh during the sprinkler grant debate at council about how common the practice was and whether other communities were adjusting response time standards to contain cost of servicing expanding suburbs.
Coun. Kris Samraj said the city’s response time standards should be examined or adjusted.
All councillors generally supported public safety and cost-saving aspects of the sprinkler installation, but three voted against the grant program stating general taxpayers should not cover the cost.
Stauth called it a “common practice” and cited the City of Swift Current’s use of a five-year partial property tax cancellation when sprinklers were installed in construction phase of new homes.
