apparatus firegeezer on 13 Jul 2008 07:53 am
Calgary Calls For Firetruck Upgrading
THE CALGARY, ALBERTA, FIRE DEPARTMENT WILL BE SUBMITTING a plan to the City Council on Wednesday calling for a $43.6 million expenditure be earmarked for replacing aging fire apparatus over the next five years.
The city has been growing rapidly lately, putting pressure on the department to add more stations and handle more and more emergency calls. Of their existing fleet of 89 trucks, over half of them, 47, are 10 or more years old. And 16 of those are at least 20 years old. Three units were recently taken out of service because they failed safety tests.
Calgary truck photo by Hidden Images
The Calgary Herald is reporting this morning:
In February, council approved $330 million worth of funding — from the 10-year $3.3 billion Municipal Sustainability Initiative from the province– to go toward priority protective services infrastructure. The fire department’s $43.65 million for new trucks could be spaced out over the next five years and is part of a larger $92 million needed over the next 10 years.
“In order to provide the citizens of Calgary with an effective fire service, it is essential to have safe, functional and fully maintained apparatus to appropriately deploy to an incident,” says a report approved by fire Chief Bruce Burrell.
“The Calgary Fire Department’s existing complement of personnel, fire stations and apparatus cannot continue to provide high levels of service delivery in a rapidly growing city without a long-term investment plan that responds to growth,” it says.
Alderman Andre Chabot sits on the Community and Protective Services Committee that will be guiding the related expenditures and he appears to be supportive of the request saying, “If our fire department doesn’t have reliable equipment to go on site to do what it is they need to do, which is to fight fires and protect lives, what’s the point of having firefighters?”
Read the full story HERE.
Calgary Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
