Public's concern over rural fire department closure should be considered, says councillor
Vernon Ramesar | CBC News | Posted: March 1, 2022 10:39 PM | Last Updated: March 1, 2022
Coun. Jim Winsor voted in favour of closing Greenwich department but seconded a motion to revisit issue
A municipal councillor in Kings County isn't ruling out revisiting a decision to close the Greenwich fire department after some community members expressed anger over the move and the fire chief said legal action would be taken.
Coun. Jim Winsor said Monday he believes council made the right call in regard to the volunteer fire department's future, but he agreed to second a motion proposed by Coun. Dick Killam to reconsider the decision.
"What do we see as the concerns that was raised by the people? We need to give those considered thought," Winsor, the councillor for District 8, told CBC Radio's Maritime Noon.
"If we feel there's wisdom in giving consideration to some of those things that were raised and we need to make an adjustment, then we will make that adjustment."
At a closed meeting on Feb. 22, council for the Municipality of the County of Kings voted 9-0 in favour of closing the Greenwich fire department and executing an agreement with the Town of Wolfville for it to provide fire services in the Greenwich district.
Greenwich will rely on the Wolfville volunteer fire department and the other 11 fire departments in the area for protection.
The decision was made the same day council received a report from a consulting company hired by the municipality last year to assess the situation. The Town of Wolfville council and the Greenwich Fire Protection Commission also attended the meeting.
Jason Ripley, chief of the Greenwich fire department, has said he was only notified of council's decision moments before a news release was issued about the closure slated for April 1.
He said Monday the department will seek a judicial review of the decision to determine if there was an error in the process.
"It may take some time for this matter to be heard because the fire station closure would be something that we can't, you know, go back in time and fix," Ripley told Maritime Noon.
"Once it's done, we'll be seeking an interim stay to that decision to prevent the closure until the Supreme Court can rule on that judicial review request."
Ripley said his department was always open to the possibility of amalgamating with Wolfville, but that option was not presented.
Members of the fire department and current and former councillors spoke about the decision Sunday to a capacity crowd at the Greenwich fire hall.
One man at the meeting described closing the fire department as "an act of lunacy."
"My vote in the next election for Kings County will not be with anyone who voted for this, and I think everyone here will agree with me," he said, prompting loud applause from other community members.
When asked if he would have voted for the closure if he was a resident of the area, Winsor responded he would have voted the same way. The councillor's response was met with expressions of disbelief and jeers from the audience.
While Ripley has said closing his department would result in longer response times for emergencies, Winsor told Maritime Noon that in his time as a councillor, there were "many times" when the Greenwich fire department got the primary call, but Wolfville or New Minas got to the scene first.
The Greenwich fire department disputed that assertion, posting on its Facebook page that it has only required mutual aid from other departments 10 times in four years, and they were preceded at the scene by another department just once in that time.
A municipal county meeting scheduled for Tuesday was at capacity and would not be able to accommodate all members of the public who wanted to attend, the municipality said Monday on its Facebook page.
The post said the municipality would hold special meetings over the next two weeks to give people a chance to speak on the issue.
MORE TOP STORIES