Waterloo, Woolwich consider fire service sharing agreement
Melanie Ferrier | CBC News | Posted: April 20, 2016 9:11 PM | Last Updated: April 20, 2016
Under automatic agreement, Waterloo firefighters could respond to nearby fires in Woolwich
A service sharing agreement that was approved by Waterloo city councillors could mean faster emergency response times in the case of a fire.
Under an automatic agreement, Waterloo firefighters could respond to fires in Woolwich township if they were closer to the scene.
Such an agreement could have made a difference on April 7, when neighbours reported a house fire on Country Squire Road in Conestogo.
Although the nearest fire station was only a short drive away, firefighters there never received the emergency call because they were in Waterloo, and the fire was in Woolwich.
Pedersen said an 86-year-old woman was critically injured in the fire and is still in hospital.
Unless they receive a special request, firefighters can only respond to fires in their own jurisdiction.
Automatic agreement
On Monday, councillors agreed to offer automatic mutual fire aid to local townships, something Woolwich Fire Chief Rick Pedersen asked for in 2009.
"We were always interested," Pedersen said. "We had talks on it and the talks didn't go well, but now it's a new mayor and a new fire chief, which is good. More regional cooperation is what we're trying for."
Woolwich Township already has a mutual fire aid agreement with Waterloo, whereby either fire department can call on the other for help, but it's not automatic.
Agreement not free
Country Squire Road and Erbsville Road are two areas of Woolwich that would benefit from automatic mutual fire aid according to Pedersen, but he said an agreement would come at a cost.
"That's what we have to work out. Either you pay per call, you pay per property or, in a lot of places, you pay by the population of that area."
Woolwich has an automatic agreement with Mapleton and Guelph/Eramosa, and Pedersen said the township charges those municipalities $140 per property. He's not sure how much Waterloo would charge Woolwich for the same kind of service.
Pedersen was also not sure how the township would recover the cost: whether it would increase everyone's taxes, or just the taxes of those who would benefit from the services.
He said those are the kinds of details that will be discussed in the coming months.
In the end, he said it would be up to council to decide whether or not the automatic mutual fire aid agreement was feasible.