ATHABASCA – Athabasca County took the first step in the long road towards revamping its fire services department when councillors passed the new Fire Services Master Plan, which outlines the overarching goals and targets for the department moving forward.
During the June 29 council meeting, the master plan and an additional fire services review both passed unanimously through the county’s consent agenda, meaning that the documents weren’t addressed directly during the meeting.
“We haven’t defined a specific timeline for its implementation yet,” said reeve Brian Hall in a July 5 interview. “The fire master plan is a future-focused document to guide the fire and emergency services for the foreseeable future, and to help in building the department for the future.”
The 45-page document outlines the expectations for the level of service that the department wants to achieve and includes four main goals: provide quality service and make Athabasca County a safe and secure community; value employee growth, involvement and development; continue to strengthen stakeholder relationships; and ensure that services are comprehensive, effectively integrated and sustainable.
“It’s really about that effective application of resources and making sure that we have the right apparatus in the right place,” said Hall.
When the plan was first presented to councillors in the June committee of the whole meeting by Lac La Biche County’s protective services chief John Kokotilo, the chief had stressed the importance of standardizing the equipment and training used by all the detachments.
“We can make the trucks work together at a fairly reasonable cost,” said Steve Hamilton, the current interim fire chief for the county.
“As we replace the equipment and the trucks, we can make sure they all fit moving forwards. As for the training, everyone’s a volunteer; you never know how many people you get to a call. If you get a call in Grassland, you may need to bring in Wandering River, Boyle, or even Athabasca, so the more we train together, the more we can work together.”
Hamilton, who will be working as the interim chief until Travis Shalapay takes over as a full-time replacement July 24, said that part of the service standardization was going to be checking in with each fire hall to see what they had, what they can do, and what they may be interested in learning.
“With the training together, they sit together, they talk together, and they react to what they’re taught. So maybe some of the agencies that don’t presently do one function may decide that they want to give it a try after talking with others,” said Hamilton during the same July 5 interview.
Hall added: “It’s about sharing best practices when you’re training, just like any time you get together with anyone from your profession. There’s a sharing of best practices, a building of it networks, it’s important for that stuff to happen.”
The master plan isn’t going to be done by the time that the current council ends its term, and it’s probably not going to be done three councils from now either. Hall views it as a guiding document that will enable whoever sits around the table to make better decisions for the benefit of the county.
“Really it’s a living document; it’s going to adapt to the needs of the county as they change. I think we’re really fortunate to have the volunteers that commit to hours of training, and callouts, and we’re seeing indications that the strong local leadership is bringing a renewed interest in volunteering, which is reason for us all to be optimistic. This (document) is council following through on its commitment to emergency services in the county,” said the reeve.
