WELLINGTON NORTH – Wellington North Fire Services has completed a risk assessment for the township.
The risk assessment is meant to determine the fire safety needs and the current fire risks within the municipality.
“Is this something we have not done before?” asked Mayor Andy Lennox at the Aug. 24 meeting.
Director of fire services Chris Harrow said he has not seen a simplified risk assessment document even though it’s a mandatory requirement under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act.
“It gives you a really good starting point for your municipality for fire protection because you identify the risks in your municipality and then your programming and your fire inspections and your fire suppression all relates back to your risk assessment and what are your risks in your community,” he said.
Geographic
One of the risks for Wellington North is geography. With a total land area of about 526 square kilometres it’s difficult to quickly get to all regions.
“With no current fire protection agreements with neighbouring municipalities, this is a lot of area for two stations to cover,” the report that was presented to council on Aug. 24 says. “The location of neighbouring fire stations is not conducive to creating any agreements.
“Certain edges of our municipality are located in a fashion that make a response longer due to distance with some areas requiring a 30km response.”
Wellington North Fire Services is exploring the possibility of automatic aid agreements with neighbouring fire departments, which means the other stations would be deployed at the same time Wellington North is deployed, rather than waiting for Wellington North to ask for mutual aid. Resources would then reach the incident as quickly as possible.
Mayor Andy Lennox asked whether the dispatch of local fire departments in the surrounding area, like Shelbourne, Dundalk and Grand Valley, are compatible with Wellington North Fire Services dispatch system through Guelph.
“Guelph has the capability to put these agreements into their dispatch centre (so) that when a call comes up in that area it will automatically flash on their screen that they need to immediately notify those other dispatch centres,” Harrow explained at the meeting.
“So while one dispatcher is dispatching us, the other one will be on the phone with [a neighbouring department] saying you need to send these ones as well so that they don’t wait for us.
“It’s a very big time saver and speeds things up a lot.”
The recent partnership with the Town of Minto will also help with fire calls in Wellington North.
“Our partnership with Minto will make the coverage for at least the north end of our municipality easier and help better keep our residents safe and secure,” said councillor Lisa Hern.
Harrow assured council the fire department is looking for similar agreements in other areas of the township as well.
Demographics
With more than a quarter of the population aged 60 or older, the risk assessment report states that the aging population is a concern. The elderly population is often living in apartments until they can get into a retirement residence.
“Fire safety concerns are prevalent,” the report says. “The lack of assisted living apartments is also going to become a problem in the next five to 15 years.
“Targeted public education programs will become vital to assisting the senior population in creating a fire safe environment for them to live in.”
Another concern is the population fluctuation that comes with seasonal campers at Spring Valley and Conestoga Campground. The report states that public education is difficult and not well received so regular inspections and compliance is necessary.
Students in Wellington Heights Secondary School have also been identified as a concern because it is difficult to provide proper education.
Buildings
The report states that the majority of the buildings in the township are residential, but that’s also where the majority of the fires (over half) occur as well. About 95 per cent (4,600) of the dwellings are single family homes.
There are also a few factories in the municipality and about 700 agricultural building.
The report notes that there are also some rural businesses more than five kilometres away from a water source, which makes fire suppression difficult.
Inspections only occur on a request or complaint basis, with the exception of care facilities, hospitals and schools, which are inspected on a regular basis.
“Completing all inspections and follow ups is very demanding on staff time and is an area we will continually review,” the report stated. “A more proactive inspection program with more building types may require more staff to be hired.”
The report states that downtown buildings are a concern, where there is little separation and multiple residential units in each building. None of these buildings are equipped with an automatic sprinkler system.
“Routine inspections will be the best way to provide fire safety for these buildings,” the report stated. “Staff hours at present would not allow us to accomplish this.”
An incident at a local industrial building could also lead to impacts on the economy and household evacuations. The report states that work needs to be done with major manufacturers to ensure fire safety measures are met and maintained.
Next steps
The report states that it’s important to continue the smoke alarm program and home escape planning for residential dwellings. It is suggested that inspections could be concentrated on multi-unit residential buildings, however, turnover is frequent making education difficult.
The report also states that a public education program geared towards seniors would be beneficial.
“The management team will work on the major risks and have programs written to accommodate other risks,” the report concludes. “This way when the volunteers have extra time to dedicate, they will be able to pick up programming and proceed immediately and not have to waste time writing or obtaining material.”
