The city of Vernon, B.C. is considering a request to expand fire protection to a rural neighbourhood just outside city limits, following a deadly house fire last month.
Not having coverage from any local municipal fire department makes some residents of the unprotected area between Vernon and Lake Country nervous and means insurance costs are high.
However, the Vernon fire department is suggesting the municipality’s city council reject the expansion.
Resident Joyce Thompson has lived in the area for two decades and said she tries not to think about not having fire protection “because you get very distraught.”
She would like to see the area be provided with fire protection both to bring down insurance costs and for greater peace of mind.
“Nobody wants a fire to destroy their home, their property, and maybe their lives,” she said.
The fatal house fire in March on nearby Commonage Road has only made the issue more pressing for Thompson.
In the wake of last month’s fatal fire, the Regional District of North Okanagan asked Vernon if the city would consider expanding its fire coverage to the area between Lake Country and Vernon that’s currently without fire service.
The area includes parts of Commonage, Bailey and Howard roads.
The proposal is that the residents of the area seeking fire service would pay a fee to the city to have coverage from the fire department.
However, in a report to city council, Vernon’s fire department is recommending city council turns down the request.
The fire department’s main argument is that extending fire protection to the currently unserved area between Lake Country and Vernon wouldn’t be cost-effective for the city.
A major factor is the lack of full-time staffing at the closest Vernon fire hall, Station 3, in nearby Predator Ridge.
The fire department said to have an appropriate response time to the unprotected neighbourhood the response would need to come from Station 3, but the money from the added fire protection area wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of boosting staffing at Station 3 to full time.
The report said if the city provides coverage to the area without staffing Station 3, it could take crews around 24 minutes to get to the neighbourhood.
It’s a situation, the fire department report suggests, that may not help residents of the currently unprotected area lower insurance costs.
“Providing service would deplete resources needed to service the City of Vernon,” the fire department report states.
“Administration recommends not entering into an agreement for fire protection…at this time and that council reconsiders the matter once a full-time response has been established at Station 3.”
Thompson feels like residents have been hearing similar reasoning for the lack of fire service in her area for years. She argues there are factors including safety that officials should be considering above cost.
“It is very discouraging because it is the same old story for 20 years. I’m sure that in the next 20 years it is not going to become cost-effective either so I don’t know what it would take for someone to have a different attitude,” Thompson said.
Residents could soon have an answer as to whether Vernon is shutting the door on the proposal.
Vernon city council is set to discuss the issue at its Tuesday meeting.
It’s unclear if being in a fire protection area would have made a difference in last month’s fatal fire as the Vernon fire department did respond to the blaze.
The deputy fire chief said the blaze had already been burning for some time before it was reported to officials and there was nothing more city crews could have done once they got there.