Proposed Halifax fire station closure worries daycare staff

Parents and staff at a Halifax daycare are worried the proposed closure of a fire station in the city's north end could increase their wait time for emergency responses, putting children at greater risk during medical emergencies.

The Wee Care Development Centre is located minutes away from the Lady Hammond fire station on Duffus Street. Over the years, crews from that station have often been the first emergency response team on site.

"Not every time is there an ambulance close by for dispatch so the first dispatch, if an ambulance isn't available, is a fire truck," said Flo Landry, who handles administration for Wee Care.

She added the fires station is just "five minutes up the road."  

"Thirty per cent of the children that go here to Wee Care have some form of special needs or medical condition that may, at any moment, require a 911 call," said Landry. 

Those medical conditions include seizures that can require an immediate dose of oxygen, which is within the limits of the care that firefighting teams can provide before EHS arrives.

'More damage can occur'

Landry said it is often the fire truck that arrives first, followed by an ambulance.

"You look at longer times, more damage can occur. Our staff is fully trained in CPR and everything but still it's nice … to know that within a five-minute window, we are going to get emergency help," said Landry. 

She knows from experience. Her own daughter has a condition that results in her having regular seizures "that won't stop without medical intervention."

"It was very nice to know that the fire department was within two minutes away and the oxygen was getting on her before she got very deep into a seizure," Landry said.

Landry said Wee Care had to make emergency calls for her daughter on many occasions. The daycare's proximity to the fire station was one of the reasons Landry chose the facility years ago, and that remains a deciding factor for some parents, she said.

"We have children here today who are medically fragile and it's one of the things … that makes comfort for the parents to know that emergency treatment is very close by," said Landry. 

The Lady Hammond station is one of three closures proposed in a report to Halifax regional council in December. If that station closes, the West Street and Bayers Road stations would respond to emergency calls at Wee Care.

Alternate routes tested

Both are farther from the daycare, but the chief of Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency told CBC News that fire crews would still respond within their mandated time frame. 

"As far as the response, we will still meet our target of getting that first truck on the scene within five minutes travel time, 90 per cent of the time," said fire chief Doug Trussler.

Firefighters have used GIS mapping, which Trussler said takes into consideration the distance, the roads, the curves in the roads, the number of stop signs and stop lights.

He said mapping has been independently verified and crews have test driven some, but not all of the new routes that would be used to replace the stations slated for closure.

"We've actually had staff drive from the fire station to different locations … and they've either met or exceeded the GIS mapping," said Trussler.

Trussler said Opticom devices help keep response times within the municipality's targets. Those devices "help us turn the … street lights green before we get to the intersection so the intersection is already clear for when we get there," he said.

But Landry thinks response times will be an issue, despite the city's promises. 

"I think the time limits will definitely be lengthened even though they're saying at this point that they don't believe they are," said Landry. 

Some of the daycare's staff and parents are signing a petition to bring their concerns to the city's attention.