PIERREFONDS – Officials hope to serve about 70,000 people in Montreal’s fastest-growing borough with a brand-new $7.6 million fire station in western Pierrefonds.
“We think there’s going to be considerable growth in this area and the fire station really fills in a gap in our coverage,” said Gordon Routley, a division chief with the Montreal Fire Department.
The fire station is surrounded by brand new residential developments in an area where residents have voiced concerns about response times during fires.
“The people in this immediate area will be served much quicker than they were in the past, yes,” said Jim Beis, the borough mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro.
This resonates with West Island residents like Michel Lanciaux, who lives in a part of Kirkland the new fire station will backstop.
Lanciaux lost a nextdoor neighbour in early December when his house burned down.
“It would have been nice to know how long it took for them to get here,” he said.
“I never found out.”
Another common refrain in the West Island is the fact that may feel that services aren’t keeping pace with population growth, although taxes continue to rise.
City officials said that they hope the new station helps to alleviate that dynamic.
“Taxes have gone up and services have gone down,” Lanciaux said.
“That’s the way it’s changed the last couple years.
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