Halifax Regional Council voted Tuesday to reject a fire station staffing proposal from the fire chief and is asking staff to instead look at a plan that could cost millions more.
Council defeated the proposal 11-5. It would have converted the station on Patton Road to a fully volunteer-run station, and staffed stations on King Street and Lady Hammond Road with career firefighters during the day and volunteer firefighters on evenings and weekends.
The changes were recommended by Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Chief Doug Trussler, so some career firefighters could be relocated to stations where there are gaps in coverage. Trussler repeatedly said the changes would have had no impact on public safety in the areas that would get volunteer firefighters because the stations were surplus.
“Be assured that we would never suggest any changes to stations or staffing, if in our professional opinion…it would negatively effect public safety.”
For example, the fire department says three surrounding stations can respond to the area covered by Dartmouth’s King Street Station 13 in less than four minutes, well below the city’s required response time of five minutes.
“Those stats are foolish,” Dartmouth Centre Coun. Gloria McCluskey said. She rejected most of Trussler’s information saying she preferred to rely on the information from individual firefighters.
“Why wouldn’t I believe firefighters and the union too?” McCluskey said. “Do you think the firefighters know anything, the ones that drive the trucks?”
Mayor Mike Savage voted against the proposal, as did councillors Jennifer Watts, Gloria McCluskey, Matt Whitman, Bill Karsten, Lorelei Nicoll, Linda Mosher, Stephen Adams, Brad Johns, Steve Craig, and Tim Outhit. Meantime, councillors Waye Mason, Russell Walker, Reg Rankin, David Hendsbee, and Barry Dalrymple voted in favour of the staffing changes.
Many councillors who voted “no,” cited a failure to convince the public that Trussler’s proposal would protect public safety. “Equally as important to public safety is the perception of public safety,” Karsten said. “And I can’t in clear conscience, vote for the recommendation (that) then would leave people with the perception that they’re unsafe in their own homes.”
Councillors are now considering a different motion from Craig. Instead of relocating some of the career firefighters from those three stations, he wants to leave them at the stations and hire new career firefighters to fill the gaps Trussler identified.
Staff will report back to council with a detailed breakdown of the cost implications but acting CAO John Traves says he expects it to cost roughly $5.3 million.
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