WESTLOCK – A review of Westlock County’s emergency plans revealed a “major gap” in preparedness to deal with regional threats, especially fires, according to John Biro, Manager of Protective Services for the county.
To fix this, water dry hydrants need to be installed across the region to use in case of fire emergencies, Biro told Westlock County council during their Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 11.
“Currently members are working alone and walking on unknown ice conditions to auger holes or working on a water's edge for sufficient drafting from a static water source that adds extra wasted time, dangers, and liability such as trucks becoming stuck, falls, thin ice, drowning, frozen body parts, and/or pump damage from sucking up mud debris,” he said in his report.
Reeve Christine Wiese praised the proposed project.
“It’s a great idea. I love it. I think it’s going to be very useful and helpful and hopefully we’ll never need to use them.”
Likewise, Coun. Isaac Skuban agreed.
“This is a service level increase for our residents,” he said. “It’s more safer and gives us better access to water. In a time where money is tight and we are looking at cutting taxes it’s nice to do something like this to increase our fire protection for our residents.”
Chief Administrative Officer Tony Kulbisky said it enhances fire services to county residents.
“We are talking about time and distance. This is going to eliminate, in some cases, the time and distance calculations because the fire crews, no matter where they are in the county, will have quicker access to water without having to worry about travel time.”
Coun. Sherri Provencal said, “The sooner we can get started the better.”
Kulbisky said they will be meeting with the regional fire chiefs and come back to council with a final plan.
Dry hydrants are non-pressurized pipe systems that firefighters can safely draft water from an adjacent body of water, such as a pond, lake or stream. One end of the pipe system is situated in the water source, and the other end is available near the roadside, where firefighters can connect to the hydrant and pump from the water source.
Quotes for the Fire Services Standpipes Project the county has received are approximately $30,000 to put in 12 standpipes throughout the county. The funds would come out of the 2025 capital projects budget. This would be the first phase of the project.
