Station snuffed out?
The city’s pending master fire plan could see the Brown Street Fire Station close its doors.
The Brown Street Fire station could be history if recommendations from the city’s forthcoming master fire plan are followed.
The plan sets out a long-term vision for the city’s fire service. One of the highlights of that vision is to close down the 60-year-old station and build a new one in the west end of Westfort to better serve the city’s changing demographics.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson sat on the committee that drafted the plan. She said a new fire hall would serve more people in the city and include more residential areas into its six-minute response time.
The Brown Street Station is unsuitable as it stands right now not only for demographics but for housing fire equipment as well, she said.
“It’s not only just not a suitable location for the demographics that have changed but it’s also not a suitable location for the actual building itself because it will not be able to hold the fire trucks that we now use,” Johnson said.
Neebing Coun. Linda Rydholm said the report states that more than 500 people in the city would be better covered if a new station opened up between the Neebing and Westfort wards.
The plan also recommends a new Neebing Fire Station should be built at its current location. Fire fighters working out of that station use a trailer instead of the building due to mould concerns.
‘The Neebing fire hall must be replaced so I would hope that that would be a priority the building is not habitable right now,” Rydholm said.
Johnson said the report has been over two years in the making. She cautions that it does not have any financial, location or timeline information attached to it. Any of those decisions would be made by council over the coming years.
While some people in Westfort might lament the loss of its neighbourhood fire station, Johnson said more people would get the help they need with a new building at a new location.
“I think they need to be educated. I think they need to really know why they’re changing it,” Johnson said.
