The Town of Cochrane and Rocky View County (RVC) renewed its fire services agreement Feb. 11, allowing Cochrane Fire Services (CFS) to continue providing emergency fire response to areas of the county at an annual budgeted cost of $400,000.
RVC Fire Chief Randy Smith told council he expects to come in under the targeted budget with a reliance on the need for CFS reducing once the Bearspaw Fire Station opens later this year.
“We anticipate that Bearspaw Station being a resource in the area will reduce the need for CFS to have to come out from time to time,” said Smith, who assumed the position of fire chief with the county Jan. 6 after leaving the Innisfil Fire and Rescue Services in Ontario Jan. 3.
At a yearly cost of $300,000, CFS provides response for up to 200 incidents within a designated area that extends north of Cochrane to Highway 567, west near Highway 1A and east past to Highway 766.
Additional fees — charged on an hourly rate with a one-hour minimum — apply to calls that exceeded 200, as well as for calls outside the designated area, Smith said, adding $100,000 is budgeted for those calls.
“We’re quite confident and I’ve tried to be very conservative on my estimates that we’re not over budget at the end of the year. We think we can work within that budget,” he said.
According to the 2013 statistics, Smith said CFS responded 90 times to incidents within the designated area.
“So we’re well under that number of calls where we’d have to start paying a fee for service,” he said, adding CFS responded 64 times to other areas in the county in 2013.
When the Bearspaw Fire Station opens in the second quarter of 2014, Smith said he estimates the number of calls CFS would respond to would be reduced by 15 in 2014, and by 30 calls by 2015. RVC currently has six fire stations – two in each of the west, north and east districts.
“Our goal would be where CFS is closer (to respond to a call), obviously we want them to respond and intervene, however, once RVC Fire arrives on scene… if we have the staffing and resources available, we would free them up to return to their station,” he said.
Smith said fire services responding to incidents on provincial highways get billed directly to the Alberta Transportation utility.
Reeve Margaret Bahcheli asked if the agreement only allowed for fire service for emergency situations, as opposed to general service for inspections and education.
“We’re looking at the hardcore and rescue fire response with Cochrane, and RVC would look after the other services. The fire departments in the area do partner up and try to combine their resources for fire prevention and those types of activities,” Smith responded.
Councillor Rolly Ashdown questioned if Cochrane’s fees are higher than RVC’s.
Smith said he noticed while reviewing the county’s fire agreements there are different fee schedules around the county, including Cochrane, which charges a higher rate than RVC.
“In 2014, I’ve been drafted to try to get something consistent with the departments or partner agencies. However with this agreement, if we respond into Cochrane, it’s reciprocal, their fees apply to our vehicles going in.”
He added fire chiefs responsible for units responding to a call have the discretion of sending whichever level of equipment they think suits the call, whether that’s a fire engine or an emergency response vehicle – a four-wheel-drive pickup truck.
Additional fees charged by CFS to RVC per hour include, $1,345 for fire engines, $960 for tankers, $875 for bush buggies, $465 for fire inspection vehicles, $2,275 for aerial, $180 for a fire chief, $110 for a fire captain and $85 per firefighter. A minimum charge is for one hour of time, with additional time billed for each half-hour.
Council agreed unanimously to sign the renewal agreement.
The Eagle sought clarification on the southern boundary, but attempts to contact RVC were unreturned by press time. Southbound Highway 22 was the site of a fatal car collision Feb. 13. Cochrane Fire Services did not respond to that call.
