Athabasca County is searching for support from the Village of Boyle and the Town of Athabasca for a possible regional fire training facility.
A letter from Bryan Hall, regional fire services coordinator for Athabasca County, was discussed at an Athabasca town council meeting last Tuesday.
Mayor Roger Morrill suggested a delegation to town council regarding the facility.
“The fire training facility — I have some real serious questions about this,” he said. “Personally, I would like to see the author of the letter come and do a presentation to us to explain this a little more.”
Councillor Paula Evans wants to hear what the Athabasca Volunteer Fire Department thinks of such a facility.
Hall said the county is sending out feelers to see if the idea has legs.
“We want to do it with the three municipalities,” he said. “We want to be on board together.”
Hall said currently, it’s just a vision.
“We have a very difficult time facilitating live fire,” Hall said. “We can’t just go out and burn whatever we want.”
Hall explained that to maintain their firefighting levels, the volunteer firefighters have to keep up with new training opportunities.
Firefighters are being sent to Vermillion for training, which Hall said is impractical to continue doing since it costs a lot of money.
“The idea is that we are going to be able to bring in outside services from other counties and municipalities to come and train with us,” he explained.
Hall said if the facility became reality, it would most likely be made out of Sea-Cans.
“Right now, we are looking at different options, but our main focus is an engineered sea container-type system,” he said.
As for public safety with such a facility in the area, Hall said it is almost a non-issue.
“If anything, it is going to benefit our firefighter safety,” he said. “Wherever this facility would be, it is a closed container.”
The main fuels burned for the training sessions would be straw and hay.
“The idea is that it is not going to be in a residential area,” he said. “We are not going to plop it in the middle of 43rd Street.”
Hall is planning on presenting at Athabasca town council Sept. 3.
