AND WHERE ARE WE NOW

Firefighting dispute divides Alberta's Lac Ste. Anne County

JANET FRENCH
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Published on: January 5, 2016 | Last Updated: January 5, 2016 8:19 AM MST

The town of Onoway, Village of Alberta Beach and seven other nearby villages have opted to stop using the County of Lac Ste. Anne fire service in favour of a private company - North West Fire Rescue-Onoway. Not only could it be one of the first arrangements in Alberta where a private company provides fire coverage, but it has created a rift. The new arrangement overlaps with the county, yet politicians won’t sign a sharing agreement to help each other in a big fire. It means firefighters could watch a house burn three blocks from the Onoway Fire Hall and legally not be allowed to respond. Video by John Lucas.

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A stalemate between what could be the country’s first private firefighting company and a county northwest of Edmonton could see firefighters stand helplessly while a fire rages.

“If there’s a house fire on the south side of that street, we just have to sit there and watch it burn,” said Dave Ives, fire chief of North West Fire Rescue-Onoway.

Dissatisfied with the Lac Ste. Anne County’s fire department, the Town of Onoway, Village of Alberta Beach, and seven other small resort villages have signed a contract with North West, a private industrial firefighting company, to respond to blazes, crashes and medical problems within their borders.

In Onoway, the north side of 47th Avenue is in the town, Ives said. The south side is in the county. Although the Onoway fire hall is three blocks away, North West firefighters aren’t allowed to work in the county.

Unlike countless towns, counties and First Nations across Alberta, the municipalities and the county haven’t signed agreements promising to help each other fight fires when they need it.

“Politics and egos and stuff have no place in a fire service, not when it comes to actually providing the fire service to the community,” said Ives. His company took over fire halls in Onoway and Alberta Beach as of Jan. 1.

With the villages and county unable to reach a so-called “mutual aid” agreement, bureaucratic boundaries could now stop nearby firefighters from showing up.

Lac Ste. Anne County fire Chief Randy Schroeder said county councillors want more information before the department works alongside a private fire company.

“At the end of the day, it is a trust issue, and we’d like to see how things go first,” Schroeder said.

After a dozen years of Lac Ste. Anne County providing fire services in Onoway, problems cropped up and councillors went looking for other options, the town’s chief administrative officer Wendy Wildman said.

The county announced it was consolidating its Alberta Beach and Onoway fire halls into one rural location, which could affect response times. When the fire department said it would no longer respond to medical calls, the town found out from a newsletter a month later. The county fire department relies on 115 volunteer firefighters — most of whom work during the day — scattered across nearly 3,000 square kilometres. There were times when the only available firefighters had to come from 45 minutes away, Wildman said.

North West has eight full-time firefighters and is training four more, Ives said.

Jim Benedict, mayor of Alberta Beach, said the county also changed its rates that would see his village’s fire costs jump by 30 per cent. His personal home insurance was also going to cost more when the fire hall moved out of town.

The county changed its fee schedule to be more equitable, county manager Mike Primeau said.

Wildman said Onoway expects the five-year contract with Ives’ company will give the town better fire service for around the same price.

Ives claims the arrangement is the first in Canada where a private company has been hired to provide municipal fire services. Alberta’s fire commissioner is unaware of any other such arrangement in the province, according to the municipal affairs ministry.

Inking mutual aid agreements with Onoway, Alberta Beach and the other villages is “not a top priority” for Lac Ste. Anne, Primeau said. The county has a large fire department and doesn’t need their help.

If county firefighters are called to one of the rogue towns, they’ll still respond, he said.

Having never before struck a deal with private firefighters, the county wants to see more documents, including North West’s contracts with the municipalities, and insurance coverage, Schroeder said.

“They’re a private company. What if they go out of business? I’m not going to fear-monger. We’re just asking legitimate questions.”

The feuding firefighters of Lac Ste. Anne also have history. In 2011, the county fired Ives from his post as Lac Ste. Anne’s volunteer deputy fire chief for insubordination.

Ives and 13 other Onoway firefighters said they’d voiced safety concerns about county practices and training.

jfrench@postmedia.com