Charlottetown fire hall decision waiting on reports from chief, insurance company

Breaking ground on a new Charlottetown fire hall is still a ways off, according to the chair of the committee in charge of the project.

Kevin Ramsay confirmed the new fire station in West Royalty will go ahead, but there arestill more details to be ironed out. The city is waiting ona feasibility study on staffing from the fire chief and a study from an insurance company before decidingwhether to have two or three stations.

This is the second insurance study on the project, the first being in 2007.That report recommended only two fire halls, the existing one on Kent Street downtown and the new one in West Royalty.

The original plan was to closeStation 2in Sherwoodwhen the new station was built. But last summer, some councillors raised concerns with that plan.

The city went back to the drawing board to look at the feasibility of having three stations. Both the chief's report and the insurance reportare expected in the comingweeks.After that, it will be up to city council to vote on whether to have two or three stations.

Ramsay, who chairs the advanced planning and special projects committee, said it's hard to say if the latest report will recommend two or three halls.

"There arepeople in Ward 10 who do not want to lose the fire station in Sherwood and I understand that because it's very important out there," Ramsay said.

He said he hopes the insurance reportcovers how big the new hallneeds to be and whether it will require full-time staffing, which would increase the cost of the project.

"At the end of the day, it's all going to land on the council's laps and we'll all have to decide on what road we'll have to go down here."

New truck on the way

The city has already bought land at Sherwood Road and Malpeque Roadfor the new station in West Royalty. The city's capital budget also includes a$165,000 allocationfor a design process for the new hall.Ramsay said that money will be set aside until after council decides what plan to go with.

There was also an addition to the capital budget for a new fire truck. After the budget was passed, council added the new truck after receiving more information from the fire chief.

"There was a report written that outlined all the fire trucks that they haveand when they were supposed to be replaced," said councillor JasonCoady, chair of thecity's protective and emergency services committee.

"Based on that information and some information our fire chief Randy MacDonald provided council, it was deemed it was time to replace this fire truck."

The new truck will cost approximately $905,000 according to the city, and it is replacing a truck that is 29 years old. The new truck is being custom built and the hope is it will be in the fleet within the next 18 months.

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