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Orangeville’s next ‘burning’ issue

July 6, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Todd Taylor

I find myself wondering why many in our fine town are still contemplating the future of policing. Council did what we elected them to do; they made a decision. The rest of us should look forward and ponder what is the next burning issue facing our town. In my view, we simply must resolve the significant capital and financial needs facing our Orangeville Fire Department.

Recently, a very good friend of our family had a cardiac arrest at her home on Spencer Avenue. The first responders were the fire department led by Captain Tom Gillies and his team. The trained professionals that Captain Gillies brought that day were able to stabilize our friend, give the family hope, and ensure the paramedics were appropriately positioned to complete their fine work. All of us were impressed and relieved to have such a strong group of local professionals readily available to help during a dire time of need. The experience reaffirmed my belief that our essential services must be adequately financed and supported.

Our Fire Department is conducting its current business out of an antiquated 50-year-old building that rests on a flood plain. In 2017, municipal planners all understand the potential repercussions of building emergency buildings on a flood plain or fault line. We cannot have our emergency services unavailable to us when we need them most. Essential services simply must be centrally located and in a safe area.

The current fire hall is simply too small and outdated to meet current needs. The recent fire department business report submitted to council is available for all to read. The report shares a rather dire image of the building via a long list of deficiencies; which include unsafe wooden staircases, severely deteriorated roof, inadequate area for the hose tower, poor office space, and overall building congestion. In some cases vehicles are moving in and out while fire fighters are getting dressed nearby, which causes unsafe conditions. Lastly, the fire department is in the awkward position of having to build trucks to fit the hall, instead of basing equipment decisions on the needs of the community (recent fire trucks have been produced with shorter bumpers simply to fit in the hall). Cost of fire hall replacement? The estimates in the report put forth by Chief Ron Morden are between $6- and $8-million.

In addition, we must fully understand the needs of servicing Orangeville in the evening. Chief Morden has shared that response times during the day are roughly four minutes. This is because the fire hall is serviced by six full-time firefighters seven days a week 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. In the evening, our town is serviced by fully trained volunteers who are called in via dispatch. The response time in the evening is 12 minutes.  It is true, eight minutes is not a long time. That said, a fire will double in size every minute, so time is precious.

In order to adequately improve our evening response times and meet provincial requirements, we must hire eight more fire fighters by 2019 at an incremental cost of approximately $1M annually. The very alarming part of this story is that none of this money has been planned for by our political leaders.

In conversation with Chief Morden, he made it clear that his mandate is change. Chief Morden wants to make things better. The Chief emphatically made it clear to me that he and his team have a passion to serve the public. His words are fully supported by the community actions taken by Deputy Chief Mike Richardson and the rest of the department.

Mr. Richardson shared that fire crews have teddy bears on their trucks to give to children when they have been part of a traumatic event. The bear is a small item that helps to preoccupy little ones while in duress. He concluded, “Events happen that are difficult. We take things seriously and give back to the community from the heart”.

Unfortunately, the family friend I mentioned earlier did not recover from her cardiac arrest. At the funeral reception, I was touched that the fire crew who were first responders also came to offer condolences to the family. They did not need to do this.

The act was not mandated by their profession, nor was it ordered by Chief Morden. The fire fighters simply wanted to be there. It was the human thing to do and greatly appreciated by the family.

What is next? The Business plan presented by the fire department during the May 29 Council meeting was “received” with the promise that Council consider the report for the upcoming 2018 budget deliberations. Hopefully council will have the fortitude to enact a plan now and not simply make the current circumstance our next election issue. We desperately need a plan now.

To our fire department, I thank you for all that you do for our town. It is clear to me, that your worthy organization needs town investment.

To Mark Costello and your family, thank you for sharing your very wonderful Susan with us. We will all miss her.

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