Mission needs to construct a new firehall in the Cedar Valley area. However, when and where that construction will take place is still undecided.
Mission Fire Chief Dale Unrau told Mission council on Monday afternoon that the latest firehall location analysis confirms the recommendation, from the 1986 Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS), that there is a demand for a firehall in the Cedar Valley area and to demonstrate potential response distance improvements have plotted a firehall location at Cedar and Tunbridge.
A firehall located near Cedar and Tunbridge would improve ideal response coverage to approximately 70 per cent of property parcels.
“They have identified that there is a demand for a fire station in that neighbourhood but it is not this imminent threat that we are going to fall apart if we don’t have it there,” said Unrau.
But the need still exists.
Mission Mayor Randy Hawes speculates that a new hall should be in the works in the next two years.
“It’s a big heads-up that not far down the road we are going to need a firehall. We are doing the OCP (official community plan) right now so we are going to have to put that into the OCP and I’m guessing that within the next year or so we’re going to have a capital plan for a new firehall,” said Hawes.
While council has not discussed a plan for the new facility, having only heard the report on Monday, Hawes said it is possible that amenities fees may be used to help finance the new firehall.
The firehall analysis also recommended identifying future firehall locations in the Hatzic and Silverdale development lands in the new OCP for consideration as those areas develop. However, those halls will likely not be needed for years to come.
Future analysis of the timing, location and budget for any future firehalls is expected to take place in the upcoming facilities master planning process.
Unrau said, “It’s just a matter of making sure we are putting placeholders in there, so as the community plans come together for those neighbourhoods, a firehall is one of the primary considerations as the community grows.
“One of the hardest things to put into a neighbourhood after it’s built out, or the hardest to pull out of a neighbourhood that’s built out, is a firehall,” said Unrau.
He also noted that once an area consists of about 3,000 properties, that’s the trigger point for adding a firehall to a community.
FUS’s review of Mission’s current three firehalls shows that 53.61 per cent of property parcels are located within ideal first-due fire truck response distances.