New report suggests consolidating 11 Sudbury, Ont., fire stations

A long-awaited report, to be presented to Greater Sudbury's city council on Dec. 13, suggests the city should consolidate 11 of its 24 fire stations, and move four of them.

Mike Squarzolo, president of the Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association, said the report by Operational Research in Health Limited makes some welcome recommendations to address aging infrastructure.

"There are so many issues with these stations and ultimately it does affect the health and safety of workers, the morale of workers and their ability to do their job properly," he said.

"I mean, some of them are 50 plus years old."

We've had people injured because of the terrible state of a lot of these buildings.- Mike Squarzolo, Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association

Squarzolo said some stations don't have gender neutral, or women's washrooms, for example.

"A lot of these issues have been going on for awhile, as long as I've been there for 23 plus years, and female firefighters in the fire service is definitely not something new," Squarzolosaid.

The report identified volunteer fire stations in Vermilion Lake, Beaver Lake, Skead, Falconbridge, Val Caron, Hanmer and Copper Cliff as prime candidates for consolidations.

Squarzolo said many of those fire stations have issues with mould and asbestos, and don't meet all of the latest safety standards.

"We've had people injured because of the terrible state of a lot of these buildings," he said.

According to a report from city staff, the city has invested $1.8 million since 2014 to maintain its fire and paramedic stations. An additional $1 million was taken from the capital budget, operating budget and reserves to manage unplanned repairs.

But Matt Walchuk, a provincial representative with the Christian Labour Association of Canada, which represents Greater Sudbury's volunteer firefighters, said consolidating fire stations would have a negative impact on staffing.

"You're going to lose individuals when you close those stations by virtue of the fact that they're now that much further from their station," he said.

Walchuk said the city had around 210 volunteer firefighters as of October, but that number has gone down every year.

He said they normally lose 15 to 20 per cent of their volunteer firefighters every year, but the number could be "much higher" if the city moves ahead with recommendations to consolidate 11 stations.

"I know that will be an issue for Val Caron and Hanmer," Walchuk said.

"I know those volunteers quite well and I know that this will be of a deep concern for them and for the communities that they serve."

Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbe said she has heard a lot of concerns from residents about maintaining local fire departments, and supporting volunteer firefighters.

"You know people are very much up in arms when we talk about reducing services, especially for emergency services and our fire services, and rightly so," she said.

On Dec. 13 city council is expected to vote on a resolution that would direct city staff to develop a financing plan that would consider the recommendations from the Operational Research in Health Limited report.