A recent city council decision to contribute $2 million towards a new emergency medical services training facility at Northern College has been a controversial one.
After the province and the feds gave $5.5 million each for the project, four councillors and Mayor Steve Black felt that it was a a good deal to build a new fire hall attached to the facility. Upon completion it will become the new home for the Whitney Fire Department. This had led to some big concerns from both citizens and firefighters.
To catch up on the council discussion from Feb. 13 click here.
On Wednesday evening, the South Porcupine Fire Department held an open house to show off their operations and have the public's questions answered. You can read that story here.
During the open house TimminsToday gathered opinions from firefighters from many of the other stations across the municipality regarding the whole situation.
The Connaught Fire Department is unequivocally against both the idea of amalgamation, and the Whitney Fire Department's eventual move to the college campus.
"Oh it most definitely affects the Connaught Department because we're 30 kilometres away. With Whitney moving to the college, that extends their response time to get their trucks, because they are our sister station. We have a dual response system, and when we get a call to an MVC (motor vehicle collision) or a house fire, they respond automatically to us. They come with the Jaws of Life, they come with fire suppression services, because we are a smaller department. Without their response, we are stretched with our resources. Having them move across the bridge to the college makes their response time longer to get to us, anywhere along that 101 East corridor, to Gibson Lake Road. That's a large area to maintain," said Maria Pellerin, training officer for the Connaught Fire Department, with 14 years of experience.
"The city decided to amalgamate, and now they're starting to cut our services. For the taxes we pay, that's not acceptable. And this fire hall is an expense that does not serve any purpose. The treasurer from the City of Timmins said that, our Fire Chief Pintar said that, and most of council has decided to go against their better judgment," she said.
Although the Whitney station will be moving 2.5 kilometres west towards South Porcupine, Pellerin believes it could have serious repercussions. She also felt that most of council speak from a perspective of ignorance on emergency services.
"Two and a half kilometres means minutes. For us who do it on a daily basis, it does not make sense. Maybe these councillors should spend some time trying to rescue someone, trying to fight a fire, putting your forks down at the table and say goodbye to your husband or wife, run out the door and do something like that. Rather than sit at the table at a council meeting, and turn around to your volunteers and tell them 'you will do what I say'. They work for us," said Pellerin.
A firefighter from the Mountjoy Fire Department, in the city's west end, also felt the council decision was ill-informed.
"I don't think city council has put a lot of thought into this. It just doesn't make any sense. They're not going to end up saving money in the long run. They're going to destroy a system that is obviously working, and they're going to lose a lot of good volunteers," said fire Captain Willy Dumoulin, who made it clear he was only speaking for himself and not his department as a whole. Dumoulin is also the President of the Porcupine Firefighters Association.
The Whitney Fire Department, who will be on the move, is also fervently against merging with South Porcupine.
"We're strongly against the whole idea that they would even consider amalgamating the two departments. We never wanted that," said Luc Roberge, a Captain with the Whitney department.
Firefighters from across the city gathered at the South Porcupine Fire Department on Wednesday evening. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday He said firetrucks do often 'bottom out' as they leave the Whitney station on Dixon Street. Issues with pavement on the street that the city has tried to deal with have been ongoing. When the Whitney department was asked if they wanted a new facility, it was deemed to be a positive.
"The building is old and everything else, but we continue to maintain it, and we work with what we've got," he said.
Roberge said he understands that the bad optics of moving the department 2.5 kilometres west of where 75 per cent of their calls come from.
"We were never involved in deciding where it should go. I think there were options on King Street (what Highway 101 East is called as it runs through Porcupine) to build there," he said.
The only full time paid firefighters in the municipality are stationed at the Timmins Fire Department on Cedar Street in Downtown Timmins. Connaught, Whitney, South Porcupine, Schumacher and Mountjoy are strictly volunteer operated.
The construction of the new EMS facility and new fire hall at Northern College is expected to get underway this spring. It will use land which is currently occupied by a soccer field, across from the Porcupine Mall.
