According to a draft report of the Town of Taber Emergency Services Master Plan, there are some serious holes in the community’s fire-coverage capabilities.
The report, presented to council Monday night by Robert Cote, project manager/lead with Morrison Hershfield Ltd., stressed the need for a new fire hall, exposed a mysterious three minute delay for fire calls from dispatch to the fire department and found Taber’s fire-coverage area to be inadequate.
The issue of fire coverage was brought to council’s attention due to new building-code requirements, which stipulate the fire department must be able to arrive at a structure fire within 10 minutes, 90 per cent of the time. Cote said that was only possible in Taber in a relatively-small area around Taber’s fire hall, located on 54th Avenue at about 62nd Street, near the town’s eastern border.
According to a map in the master plan, the 10-minute theoretical response time, based on three minutes to handle an incoming call, a six-minute chute time and one minute drive time, covered north and south from the fire hall from 46th Avenue to 60th Avenue, right along Highway 3, and east into Taber’s industrial area. The problem, however, is heading west.
The 10-minute coverage only extends west to an area between 55th and 56th Street, a fact evidenced by four years of statistics. It is a dilemma unique to Taber, according to Cote, who has arranged similar master plans for other communities.
“For Taber, the scariest part is that 10-minute response. For the most part, that is not an issue for the other communities.”
He added that has left significant parts of Taber potentially underserviced.
“The west and northwest corner is not protected according to the new building code,” he said, and added that is the area where the bulk of Taber’s new development is taking place.
Cote blamed the situation partly on the location of Taber’s fire hall, which he argued was not a central-enough location. The three-minute lag time, discovered when Cote and his team combed through statistics, that occurs between the time when the call comes into dispatch and when the fire hall is alerted, is another culprit. Cote added the reason for that three-minute delay has not been pinned down, and added it could be human dispatch error, or a problem at the other end, when volunteer firefighters enter their reports.
But aside form the coverage area and the dispatch question, Cote added the current fire hall needs to be replaced. The building, constructed in 1974, was never designed as a fire hall, he said. Despite numerous renovations over the years, the building doors are barely large enough for fire trucks to get out, there are drainage and exhaust issues and an Occupational Health and Safety issue in regards to the dormitories.
Most of this came as a surprise to members of council.
It kind of floored me, parts of the report,” said Coun. Murray Rochelle. “I toured that building two years with the former fire chief, and not a lot of this was brought up. We really have a lot to consider.”
Others on council, however, were not so sure the problems were as major as the study concluded. Coun. Louie Tams said as with most studies of this nature, problems are simply made out to be bigger than they need to be.
“If you do a study, you might as well reach for the stars. If you do a study like this, you have to find holes in there.”
Coun. Garth Bekkering was more concerned with the three-minute dispatch issue, and added the size of the doors have never been a big issue, while installing equipment to alleviate the exhaust issue could solve that problem.
To Mayor Ray Bryant, the report brought to light some issues the town will have to face.
“Some of this information is new, and certainly it is concerning, and we will be having some additional discussions,” he said, and added issues like budget implications of a potential new fire hall will have to be examined.
With that, council agreed to table the master plan until its next meeting, Aug. 16.
FIRE FACTS: In his presentation, Cote also revealed a gap in the fire department’s structure, as Mike Bos, the former deputy fire chief, is currently serving as the acting fire chief. Some of the duties Bos previously performed, like fire prevention and fire inspections, are lagging as a result, according to Cote.
The master plan report also looked at issues such as the fire department’s current equipment, its volunteer situation and its capabilities to respond to a fire in terms of manpower.
In another comment regarding the site of Taber’s current fire hall, Cote added the location makes it more difficult to respond to various potential risks for the community, such as rail-line accidents, fires as places of assembly like schools and public buildings. According to the master plan, for example, the only school’s the department’s 10-minute response area would hit would be D.A. Ferguson and W.R. Myers. The town’s recreational buildings, like the pool and the area, are also outside the 10-minute area.