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2012-02-06 at 16:39

Composite fire department won’t work for city, mayor says

By tbnewswatch.com
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A composite fire department wouldn’t work for Thunder Bay, says Mayor Keith Hobbs.

During last week’s council meeting, Neebing Coun. Linda Rydholm asked why Sudbury’s fire budget is so much lower than Thunder Bay’s.

The mayor answered by stating that Sudbury has a composite fire department – it consists of career and volunteer firefighters.

“Apparently now it’s out there that I want a volunteer fire department. I have had a few people ask me,” Hobbs said. “It’s not the case.”

“Thunder Bay’s a different setup. We provide a fire service for the city, not for outlying regions,” he added.

The mayor said Thunder Bay falls in line with other municipalities in Ontario in terms of the numbers of firefighters per population.

 

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Tbnewswatch.com(10)

Comments

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TBDR says:
This is the danger of rushing to judgement on an idea. I've looked at Sudbury's set up. The firefighters in Thunder Bay are paid, the ones in the outskirts are mostly volunteer.
2/6/2012 4:46:11 PM
TBDR says:
er... i meant Sudbury not Thunder Bay. Need more coffee.
2/7/2012 12:38:01 AM
chezhank says:
If I remember that council meeting correctly,councillor Rydholm asked why are taxpayers in Sudbury paying about $500 less in property taxes than Thunder Bay.Then later on during the meeting our "nightmare" brings out the fact that Sudbury has a composite fire department (regular department and volunteer department)and explains the lower taxes.
This can be checked by reviewing the archived videos on the city website.
The one thing that is not explained is why are firefighting costs in Thunder Bay the highest per capita for municipalities with populations over 100,000.
Maybe council should not have agreed to hire 3 more management positions in the fire department and think about consolidating the 22nd Ave and Brown St Fire Stations.
2/6/2012 5:53:14 PM
tsb says:
Of course it would work. Just close the fire departments in Neebing and McIntyre, and let Linda Rydholm and Trevor Guirtuga fights the fires there, for free, just like the volunteers do in Sudbury!

Neebingers and McIntyrites can rest assured that they're in able hands with Linda and Trevor at the reins of rural fire protection service in our municipality!
2/6/2012 8:01:17 PM
chezhank says:
Yes it would,excellent idea tsb!
2/6/2012 9:29:23 PM
jimmyboy says:
WOW...now not only is Hobbs an expert on policing and crime reduction...said with tongue in cheek...now he is our resident expert on how the fire department should be structured...totally off the wall and covered in hilariousness...please spare us the pain of your infinite wisdom cause you haven't been all that wonderful your first year...boy can Hobbs get any more hubris.???

I sure hope a whole lot of those who are always posting here actually show up tomorrow evening at city hall and take their tern to speak to Hobbs and city council in person.!!!

If anything...Hobbs who promised the world during his campaign...and who has failed miserably to really deliver on his campaign promises....should have figured out by now....not only does the fire department need to be re-structured entirely....the police department which he commith is equally in need of total overhaul as well....oh if only he could see the forest for the trees....and spend less time attending events (1,900 in 2011..:)!!
2/7/2012 6:30:05 AM
nostradamus2016-2021 says:
Is Thunder Bay the next Vallejo California(population 120,000)?

Video regarding public employees -firefighters starts at 55 second mark and solutions around 1:50 mark
2/7/2012 8:42:42 AM
nostradamus2016-2021 says:
here's the link to video clip
2/7/2012 11:02:55 AM
Arch Stanton says:
I have an even better idea....

When responding to a 911 fire call, the Fire Dept should first check the City Property Tax Database to ensure that the affected property's tax payments are up to date.

If the property holder's taxes are delinquent, the firefighters return to base.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE!
2/7/2012 9:52:52 AM
ruralmedic says:
force neebing and mapleward to do on-call.

after all, it "works" for SNEMS, in stations that see 300+ calls per year....

so why wouldn't it work for firehalls that do 100-ish calls in a year?

imagine the savings when you only have to pay people $3/hr to be ready to do their job and only 1/2 shift's pay if they actually have to...

you could literally save MILLIONS by going with the EMS model for the "rural" firehalls...
2/7/2012 9:36:05 PM
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