York Region could run regional fire department 'very easily,' Emmerson says

Like police and paramedics, fire should be regional: Richmond Hill fire union

Yorkregion.com
November 8, 2019
Lisa Queen

At a ceremony to celebrate the opening of two new paramedic stations in Newmarket to accommodate the growing population, York Region chair Wayne Emmerson agreed it makes sense to revisit exploring a regional fire department.

“It certainly is (a good idea),” he said at the Oct. 16 opening of the station at 135 Aspenwood Dr. northwest of Davis Drive and Yonge Street, an event attended by Health Minister and Newmarket-Aurora MPP Christine Elliott.

While the region is responsible for policing and paramedic services, local municipalities operate fire services.

If there is a local appetite, the region would support moving forward with a regional fire department, Emmerson said.

“Listen, I’m happy to meet with them all but I think they, the unions and the municipalities, need to come together along with the fire chiefs to say ‘Yeah, it’s time. Let’s look at it, let’s study it and see what we can do.’ I’d be happy to do that. I think the region would take it on very easily.”

Local politicians and officials have killed the idea in the past, although unions appear to be in favour.

“We think it’s going to offer better and improved services to the residents of Richmond Hill and across the entire region and we don’t have to look any further than our brothers and sisters in the police and paramedics services to see the benefits of a regional service,” Greg Horton, president of Richmond Hill Professional Fire Fighters Association, said.

In the spring of 2013, several firefighters’ unions appealed to their local councils to support a regional department but local politicians took no action.

The effectiveness of fire delivery services was questioned following a fatal fire that killed four members of the Dunsmuir family on Good Friday in 2013.

It took East Gwillimbury volunteer firefighters 12 and a half minutes to reach the family’s home in Sharon just north of Newmarket.

Response to the fire would have been handled differently if there had been a full-time regional fire department, Emmerson agreed.

A regional fire department, like paramedic services, would ensure new stations are built where the need is greatest, rather than adhering to local municipal boundaries, he added.

“You won’t save any money for the first five to 10 years because it takes that many years to get it organized. Like when we did transit. But five years from now when we look at stations, you’ll build them so there’s no boundaries,” he said.

At the same time, he praised the current mutual aid arrangement which sees fire departments come to each others’ assistance when needed.

Emmerson made his comments to the York Region Media Group after the region’s ceremony opening the two new paramedic stations.

In addition to the six-bay, $3-million station on Aspenwood, there is a six-bay, $3.8-million new station at 415 Harry Walker Pkwy. South of Green Lane.

The region pays for the construction of the stations, with the provincial government covering operating costs.

Both stations will add ambulances and paramedics over time as the surrounding communities grow, Chris Spearen, the region’s chief of paramedic services, said.

“In York Region, the ambulances are fluid. They don’t just respond to Newmarket, they respond to the whole community. The ambulance here may end up in Woodbridge by the end of their shift, you never really know, to provide coverage” he said.

The region is in the middle of doing a master plan to look at the needs of paramedic services across the region, Spearen said.

Paramedics responded to 83,225 calls in York Region last year, with 9,882 (12 per cent) of the incidents within five kilometres of the Aspenwood station.

Since 2001, the number of homes within five kilometres of the facility grew by 7,747 or 26 per cent. The overall population within that distance jumped by 17,916 people or 20 per cent, while the number of seniors grew by 7,974 or 59 per cent.

For the Harry Walker station, paramedics responded to 9,543 calls within five kilometres, an increase of 11 per cent.

Since 2001, 6,510 new homes were added within five kilometres, an increase of 24 per cent. The population within that distance climbed by 15,819 people, or 20 per cent, while the number of seniors jumped by 7,315 or 58 per cent.