By Andrew de Souza

Back to drawing board for new fire stations

Apr 5, 2011 | 5:07 PM

The Prince Albert Fire Department will have to go back to the drawing board after a lukewarm reception from city council over a proposed Muzzy Drive fire station.

Fire Chief Les Karpluk handed in a report to the city’s executive committee, which suggested the construction of a residential-style fire hall in the Crescent Acres neighbourhood.

Residential fire halls are smaller and much less expensive than traditional halls. They're popular in Calgary and usually house a four-person team, with one fire engine in an enlarged garage.

But councillors had concerns for a lot of different reasons.

Residents should have a chance for input before a station could be placed in their neighbourhood, Coun. Lee Atkinson said.

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“I don’t know people who live in residential properties would be overly thrilled to live next to a station,” he said.

“If we’re going down this kind of road, I think one should inform the public that that’s a possibility — that they might be living next to a fire station.”

Coun. Greg Dionne said a fire hall would be better suited in the West Flat, because that’s where the need was greatest.

“I thought that we would be putting the fire hall in West Flat because that’s where we took the most calls so that we’re there, set up, and ready to go,” he said.

Coun. Charlene Miller said that since the city was spread out in two directions, two fire halls was the best option.

In the end the debate caused council to ask for an updated report from the fire department to be filed within the next two council meetings.

They asked for location suggestions, costs and response time reductions.

Fire Chief Karpluk said that was fine with him, as long more halls were eventually built.

He said the biggest problem was that the department’s response time was often above the industry standard of six minutes, which could often be the difference between life and death.

“Anywhere from five to six minutes, flashover is going to occur and we want to get there. I mean, if a person’s caught in a flashover it’s over. It’s a sad fact, but it’s true,” he said.

“We’re going to identify this, we’re going to come back with another proposal for city council and another location and do what we have to do.”

adesouza@panow.com