The owner of a house lost in a structure fire in the Summer Village of Silver Sands is protesting a $27,056 bill placed on her by the municipality for fire services.
“A lot of people in the summer villages ... might end up very surprised that the bills can run as high as they can,” Blanchfield said. “And it's at a time, you get hit with a bill when you're struggling with having lost everything.”
The fire that burned Blanchfield's home was handled by Onoway Regional Fire Services, managed by the private company Northwest Fire Rescue and Training. Silver Sands and other area municipalities that switched to this service from the Lac Ste. Anne County fire service in 2016.
But a follow-up report on the fire from Lac Ste. Anne County questioned the amount of resources brought in to deal with this structure fire. These resources included mutual aid being requested from both Parkland County and Lac Ste. Anne County. Blanchfield was charged $9,975 to pay for all mutual aid invoices for the call as part of the bill.
That report made Blanchfield question whether the amount she has to pay is appropriate. Lac Ste. Anne County fire chief Randy Schroeder said the costs for Blanchfield would have likely been significantly lower had the County handled the call, so long as the fire was not caused by negligence or illegal burning.
“I can tell you within our existing policy for single-family dwelling structure fires (that) it is abnormal to see costs above $4,000 to $5,000 billed in our system for fires within our jurisdiction. Typically depending on the situation, it would be in the $3,000 range for a situation similar to yours,” Schroeder said in an email to Blanchfield brought before Lac Ste. Anne County Council on June 22.
Schroeder also noted that two key parts of the bill wouldn’t likely be charged under current County policy. These include the $9,975 to cover mutual aid invoices and another $8,393 charged to cover the cost for Northwest Fire Services to secure the scene for the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) to investigate. That charge is based on the 16 hours it took for the OFC to arrive.
“We do not charge our ratepayers for investigations or for posting a guard,” Schroeder said. “Although there is a cost to providing the service, we minimize it.”
Tim Seefeldt, communications director for Municipal Affairs, said invoices for the provision of the scene security could be brought before the OFC. However, he added this has never happened and insurance companies often pay those costs.
He also said it would be inappropriate for the OFC to comment on the costs invoiced for this fire.
“It is not possible or reasonable for the Office of the Fire Commissioner to comment on whether the charges levied by a municipality for the provision of a specific set of services is reasonable,” Seefeldt said.
The OFC has not yet provided details on what it found in its investigation of the scene as of publishing time.
Report questioned resources sent to blaze
At the behest of County council, Lac Ste. Anne County Fire Services provided a report on the April 11 fire.
The report questioned how Northwest Fire Services handled the fire.
“The scene was reported as very congested with fire trucks,” the report said, noting three Parkland trucks, four Northwest trucks, RCMP and AHS vehicles, in addition to three LSACFS trucks that were on scene. “The house had at this point completely burnt and the Incident Commander was still ordering resources.”
In a follow-up question by County council on May 11, Schroeder said that this was not the kind of fire his department would likely order mutual aid for.
“We have the capacity to fight the fire. The organization (and) the infrastructure is sufficient to provide a response to that,” Schroeder said. “Mutual aid is typically used for events in which your infrastructure is either incapable because of numerous ongoing calls, simultaneous or extraordinary events.”
Parkland County, whom Lac Ste. Anne County consulted for the report, declined to offer comment for this story.
Northwest Fire Chief David Ives contested the account of the report. In an email to Schroeder presented before County council on June 22, he said his service had only requested Lac Ste. Anne County to provide water support and that the level of support brought in was appropriate.
“Although you were concerned that there was the typical congestion of emergency vehicles on the scene, I assure you that this was the correct volume of water,” Ives said. “Once the situation was known and the fire rapidly brought under control, your water tenders were released from the scene as quickly as possible.”
Ives further said his department called for mutual aid because it did not want to take chances on a high priority call.
“Onoway Regional Fire does not take chances when the situation is unknown. Our policy dictates that whenever possible we err in favour of caution when requesting resources,” Ives said.
Department municipality defends handling of fire bill
Ives said his department is cognizant of scaling back resources as fire calls develop while managing costs without interfering with safety.
"We just continually drop down more and more of the resources and scale back the response as we get through fire control, loss stops, all the time reassessing to ensure the decisions we're making are financially prudent but don't interfere with fire safety or impact the environment or property in a negative matter,” Ives said.
He said he stands by the decisions made by the incident commander on the scene for the Silver Sands fire.
“I'd say for certainty, faced with the same exact situation again, I would absolutely support all the decisions that my officers made at the early stages of the call,” he said.
Silver Sands Mayor Bernie Poulin said the village is encouraging residents to get riders on their fire insurance for coverage of up to $20,000 as the potential cost of a structure fire in the village.
In response to the claims of the Lac Ste. Anne County Fire Service, Poulin said the difference between how the County and the Village can bear the cost of service comes down to the population.
“We're a smaller unit in terms of a summer village. We don't really have the luxury of being able to do that. That's why we encourage residents again to have the actual rider to cover the extra cost,” he said.
Poulin also said he is very confident that Onoway Regional Fire Services is a cost-effective option for the municipality.
Blanchfield said she did have fire insurance, but with coverage only up to $10,000. She said she plans to appeal her bill to the village council, which she has until Sept. 8 to do so. Failing that, she also said she would try to reach out to local MLA Oneil Carlier and Alberta Municipal Affairs for help.
But Seefeldt said the invoice should be dealt with at the municipal level.
“This is a municipal responsibility, as they have authority under the MGA to recover costs and she needs to deal with the invoice and amount at the municipal level through their mechanisms,” he said.
Blanchfield said most people take for granted that taxes cover most of the costs for fire service.
“Like everyone else, you assume your taxes pay for it,” she said.
Lasting rift over fire services in region
Silver Sands, along with Onoway, Alberta Beach and several other Lac Ste. Anne summer villages chose to switch from County fire service to a private fire service company in 2016 — the first such arrangement in the province.
This occurred after negotiations with the County on its fire services broke down over concerns of fire service rates and it moving the Alberta Beach Fire Hall out of town. The Summer Village of Ross Haven also switched to Onoway Regional Fire Services effective July 1, 2017.
Poulin said it would be better if the County and its various municipalities could have found a way to work together on fire services.
“The preferred model is for the County and all associated summer villages and towns to work as a unit, but unfortunately, we haven't been able to do that. You're forced to find an alternative service, which we did and as you can tell we're prepared to pay the cost. But obviously, it would be much better if it hadn't come to that situation,” Poulin said, adding that the village remains happy with Onoway Regional Fire Services.
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