(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Rural fire response

R.M. of P.A. crunching numbers for potential fire dept.

Mar 7, 2019 | 2:08 PM

While no decision has been made yet whether to approve a proposal for a fire department, the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert is getting a clearer idea how much one would cost.

Div. 2 Councilor Tyler Hazelwood, who is also chair of the RM’s fire review committee, gave a presentation to council Thursday morning, breaking down the numbers over a ten-year-period. He explained the initial start-up costs could be just over $38,000, followed by costs in the area of $239,237 for 2020 and 2021.The RM’s current services are provided by the City of Prince Albert but that contract expires at the end of 2019.

“Going by what we are paying now, we are right in the exact same price range to start our own department,” Hazelwood said.

Some of the initial big expenditures would include a fire engine ($486,688.80) and a tanker truck ($114,807). Both of those items have options for leasing. The fire department would also look at purchasing rescue equipment in 2020, which could run in the area of $50,000.

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Jim Miller, with Tactical Team Consulting, who has been asked by council to advise on the potential project, told council that those costs could be recovered through grants and fundraising.

In addition to his work assessing costs, Hazelwood said he has also been actively recruiting potential volunteer firefighters, and reported he has had a lot of success.

“And we have had a lot of good community support, and lots of young people in the community wanting to join and help serve their community,” he said.

Hazelwood added they aspire to have 30 people on the team, and so far have firm commitments from over a dozen people.

He also emphasized in his presentation all discussion surrounding the potential fire department is still very much in the exploratory phase, and the numbers could fluctuate. He said if approved by council, the earliest the team could be up and running would be January 1, 2020.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell