Fredericton considering new fire station to serve growing population

Growth is a hot topic in the City of Fredericton, especially when it comes to providing emergency fire services.

Fredericton City Councillor Stephen Chase says, due to increased growth, it’s time for the city to do a fire analysis to determine the capacity of the “essential public service.”

“We have a very good 24-7 professional fire service, but the last time that a study was done was 2002 and it had recorded the importance of looking at building a facility in the southwest corner of the city,” Chase said.

Chase says over the past 15 years, the city has grown significantly and based on information collected for the new Municipal Plan, it’s estimated that Fredericton will grow by another 30,000 people in the next 20 years — up from 60,000 to approximately 90,000.  He says if there were to be a new fire hall built, it would be near Prospect and Hanwell Streets.

“We are in the midst of developing a Municipal Plan and I think one of the key elements of that Municipal Plan is the capacity to provide fire service.  I do know that this is of interest to the fire department and as well as the union,” Chase said.

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If a new fire station is built, he says it would be based on the city’s internal need and council would build it into its capital plan.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: If a new fire station is built, he says it would be based on the city's internal need and council would build it into its capital plan.

Chase says Fredericton is a “very regional-oriented city” and that regional collaboration is important.

Chase told Global News the city has a reciprocal contract with every municipality within a 20- to 30-kilometre radius, including Oromocto, New Maryland, and several other municipalities, except for the rural community of Hanwell.

Hanwell Mayor Chris Melvin says the municipality previously relied on the City of Fredericton for fire services.  Melvin says when it came to renewing the contract in the winter of 2014, the cost went up and he didn’t want to pass that onto residents.

Melvin says Hanwell is now serviced by the Upper Kingsclear Fire Department.

“One of the last council meetings, council as a whole decided to go forward and build our own fire hall.  So we went ahead and we purchased land and just this week we started brainstorming on what features want to go into this fire hall,” Melvin said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "One of the last council meetings, council as a whole decided to go forward and build our own fire hall.  So we went ahead and we purchased land and just this week we started brainstorming on what features want to go into this fire hall," Melvin said.

He says the fire chief of Upper Kingsclear and several fightfighters helped brainstorm ideas for the new building.

“The placement of that building is based on a study that was done because the placement of a fire hall is obviously very important with regards to response time… So, it’s going to be centrally located in the most populated area in Hanwell,” Melvin said.

If it’s going up near Hanwell, Chase says the city would be open to once again providing services to the community.

“Hanwell is open to talk to its neighbours about all services,” Melvin said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Hanwell is open to talk to its neighbours about all services," Melvin said.

Melvin says it’s important to have collaboration and that it makes “solid economic sense.”  He told Global News he hasn’t been approached by the city in regards to fire protection or any other services.

Melvin says partnering with their neighbours on any services should be something that any community should entertain — not just Hanwell.