SPRINGWATER FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES Midhurst Resident Liaison - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Midhurst Resident Liaison Group – April 14th 2014

SPRINGWATER FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES

 Springwater Fire and Emergency Services

• 20 years old
• Previously Vespra, Elmvale-Flos and Oro Medonte

Serving some communities for over 86 years!

• Centre Vespra - 1990 to 2004
• Midhurst - 1956
• Minesing - 1973
• Hillsdale - 1973
• Elmvale - 1928

Chief Administrative Officer Deputy Fire Chief

 Midhurst – 1453 Snow Valley Road

25 firefighters

 Minesing – 2303 Ronald Road

20 firefighters

 Hillsdale - 1 Albert St. E

20 firefighters

 Elmvale – 7 Paterson St.

25 firefighters

 92 Firefighters (inc. Chief, Deputy and FPO)  4 Fire Stations  5 Pumper Trucks  4 Tanker Trucks  6 Cars (pick-ups, SUVs, passenger vehicles)  1 Rescue Truck  1 ATV

497 526 585 503 538 464 488 511 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

 Education

• Fire extinguisher training, fire safety training, fire

drills

 Enforcement

• Annual inspections, fire safety plan review, code

enforcement

 Response

• Arrival at scene of fire
• Firefighter familiarization with buildings
• Appropriate number of personnel and apparatus
• Purchase of appropriate equipment

 Has the Town directed the Fire Chief or other

Town staff members to call on other municipalities who have gone through development similar to what Springwater now proposes and ask how they managed to keep a 100% volunteer Fire Department or what triggered their move to a partial paid Fire Department or full time Paid Fire Department?

 The Fire Chief has discussed staffing and

“trigger points” with several other municipalities

 Other Considerations

• The increasing number of calls for service
• Availability of Firefighters / Firefighter turnover
• Local needs and circumstances (types of hazards

and construction)

• Success of Fire Prevention programming

 Springwater has a Master Fire Plan (MFP)

• North American best practices
• Standards set by the Office of the Ontario Fire

Marshall’s Fire Safety Guidelines

• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
• Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS)
• Council direction

 MFP will be reviewed and revised in 2014

 In the future, Township Council will

continually evaluate the needs of the community and establish the desired level of fire protection (Inc. staffing levels, scope of expertise and equipment)

 This can be done by Council revisiting the

establishing and regulating bylaw and changing the level of service

 Has the Town looked into the Financial

liability of not moving to a full time paid Fire Service, at least for the new high density homes areas where numerous lives will be put at risk if we rely on a 20 minute response time?

 The Fire Protection and Prevention Act (FPPA,

2007) does not distinguish between full time and volunteer firefighters for the sake of financial liability

 The current response time in Midhurst is not

20 minutes

 Response times (FD Not’d  arrival)

• Factors effecting Response:

 Availability of Firefighters  Weather  Location of Firefighters homes  Distance of resident’s home from station  Other calls for service Note: We anticipate that the response times in Midhurst will improve as more homes are built closer to the station on Snow Valley Road.

Midh dhurst urst Minesin sing Hi Hillsdale llsdale El Elmvale ale Departmen artment Average Response time 14:59 12:54 10:26 8:15 11:18

 Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS)

• Establishes fire protection classifications for

insurance companies

• FUS will continue to evaluate the Midhurst area as a

medium sized community into the foreseeable future

Population Dens Population Density ity Total Population

• tal Population

Major Cities >400 people / km2 AND >=100,000 Medium Communities >200 people / km2 AND >=1,000 Small Communities >200 people / km2 AND <1,000

 Currently all residents within 8 kms of the

Midhurst fire hall receive a fire protection grading of 3A or 3B (hydrant vs non-hydrant)

 A grading of 1 or 2 is possible with full time

staff

Grade Grade Water ater Syst System Apparatus Apparatus Firefighters irefighters 1 Hydrant <8 km away

• Min. 3 on duty

+1on call Chief + 15 on call FFs 2 Hydrant <8 km away

• Min. 1 on duty +

15 on call FFs 3A Hydrant <8 km away

• Min. 15 on call FFs

3B Tanker Shuttle <8 km away

• Min. 15 on call FFs

 Will higher density homes in the community

change things?

 Things to consider:

• Training
• Arial truck (current agreement in place)
• Risk of fire spread
• New light weight construction

 What are the financial liability risks if a fire

disaster occurs under the above if we do not have a paid fire service?

 Under the FPPA there is no distinction

between full time and volunteer firefighters for financial liability

 Currently, all of the Townships fires are

reported to the Ontario Fire Marshall in accordance with legislation

 The Township continuously demonstrates

compliance with the legislated standards and expectations

 The Master Fire Planning process will

continue to define the scope of the Fire Department into the future.

 Township Council will be responsible to

establish the level of service.