Woodlands County councillors are concerned that a request made by the County of Barrhead could result in an injury or even a death.
That was the unanimous consensus of council after discussing an e-mail sent by former County of Barrhead manager Mark Oberg (he stepped down as manager as of Dec. 13) during its regular meeting in Fort Assiniboine on Dec 20 — and therefore they are hoping to schedule a meeting between the mayors and reeve of both the town and county of Barrhead and Woodlands County along with the prospective chief administrative officers (CAO) to come up with a solution.
In the e-mail Oberg said dispatching two separate fire departments to an incident is difficult to justify and therefore asked that the Woodlands County’s Fort Assiniboine Fire Department refrain from attending calls in the County of Barrhead.
Luc Mercier, Woodland County’s CAO said for the last two years the county has been trying to negotiate an agreement with the town and county of Barrhead that would allow the Fort Assiniboine Fire Department to respond to calls on the west end of the County of Barrhead.
“Especially for vehicle accidents on the highway, because we are just a mile away and we feel we can get there faster,” he said, adding the e-mail makes it clear they are not interested in coming to such an agreement.
One of the reasons Oberg states in the e-mail is that currently when the Barrhead Fire Department (BFD) responds to an incident in the town or county, whatever municipality it is in is invoiced for the costs.
“The costs are then forwarded to the landowner. If two departments are dispatched, there would then be two invoices to pay. That could pose problems,” he writes, adding that the county’s lawyer also advised against it. Oberg noted another factor making it difficult to come to such an agreement with Woodlands County is that the Barrhead municipalities are currently in the process of negotiating a fire services agreement.
However, Mercier said any assistance the Fort Assiniboine Fire Department provided in the County of Barrhead would be at no cost.
Mayor Jim Rennie asked which municipality was the managing partner of the Barrhead Fire Department.
Mercier said it was the town, but added any agreement Woodlands County signs would be with the County of Barrhead. However he said the Town of Barrhead would be involved in any negotiations, saying it could be possible to revisit the issue the two Barrhead municipalities come to a fire services agreement.
Fort Assiniboine Coun. Dale Kluin, a member of the hamlet’s fire department, said he was disappointed to see a disagreement between the town and county in Barrhead. It could potentially impact the public’s safety by potentially delaying discussions between Woodlands County and Barrhead Fire Services.
“My question is what do we do about medical first responses because right now we are getting calls from the ambulance service?” he asked. “Are we going to say, ‘Sorry you have to deal with the town and County of Barrhead?’”
Mercier said Woodlands County’s hands were tied, as its emergency services aren’t allowed to work in another municipality’s jurisdiction without permission.
Gordon Frank, Woodlands County’s director of planning and community services, said ambulance calls shouldn’t be an issue as Alberta Health Services should only be dispatching the fire department whose jurisdiction a call is in.
Goose Lake Coun. Dale McQueen suggested that the county wait until Barrhead did come to a fire services agreement.
“They are in the middle of a process and we shouldn’t be poking our noses in there until they get that done. Hopefully, it doesn’t take too long,” he said.
Kluin disagreed, saying they needed to resolve this before someone dies.
Rennie added if they waited until they reached a fire services agreement, it could be years until Woodlands County could enter any discussions.
“My worry is this could end up being like their rec agreement,” he said. “I would like to see our one issue resolved rather then have to wait five years for them to come to an agreement.”
Rennie asked if there would be any concerns of possible confusion about who was in charge at an emergency scene by having more than one fire department respond.
Under the incident command system, Kluin said any confusion is eliminated explaining, when responding to calls in another jurisdiction, any Woodlands County fire department would turn over command to the fire department whose area it was, upon its arrival.
Whitecourt West Coun. Chad Merrifield said it would be better to try to resolve the issue before the municipalities reached a fire services agreement.
“We’ve seen a history of these two municipalities not being willing to cooperate and work with not only each other, but their neighbours around them. It seems like it is more like a power struggle rather than a serving of the people,” he said.
