Back in May of this year, the Town of Innisfil and Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury signed a ground-breaking agreement – not only to share a single Fire Chief for both Innisfil Fire & Rescue and BWG Fire & Emergency Services, but to explore the possibility of further consolidation of fire services.
Innisfil and BWG already share an amalgamated police force, the South Simcoe Police, and have integrated their drinking water systems, piping water from Innisfil’s water treatment plant to the Fennell Reservoir in Bradford.
Phase 1 of the Shared Fire Services Pilot project saw Innisfil Fire Chief Tom Raeburn installed as chief of BWG Fire & Emergency Services, with a 30-day period to assess the success of the project.
On Wednesday night, a proposal for the next step, Phase 2, came before Innisfil Council.
Phase 2 involves retaining a consultant to carry out a Shared Fire Services Feasibility Assessment, looking at long-term financial impacts, a resource/capacity analysis, community benefit analysis, and level of service assessment.
The consultant will also explore governance models and the implications for collective agreements and wages, and as part of the process, will reach out to neighbouring municipalities and the County of Simcoe, to see if they are interested in participating in the review to look at shared services.
Cost of the assessment study is estimated at $125,000, to be split evenly between Innisfil and BWG. Innisfil will pay for its share from the Fire & Rescue Services operating budget, and the Modernization Grant received from the province.
No consultant has been selected at this point, but will “definitely” have a background in fire services, Chief Raeburn said.
Coun. Donna Orsatti asked if the consultant would review Innisfil Fire & Rescue’s efficiency and staffing levels.
“That would be the intent,” said Raeburn, looking for efficiencies in both services “and how that could be improved, potentially, by going together.”
It will not be a full Fire Master Plan, last completed in 2013. “Those are reviews that are generally quite expensive, and take a lot of in-depth analysis,” Raeburn said, but the assessment will look at a full range of options, from the status quo of two separate services, each with its own fire chief, to full consolidation.
Both BWG and Innisfil have composite services, employing full-time firefighters and volunteers; share a border, and already provide mutual aid in responding to fire calls – but in other ways, the two services are quite different.
Innisfil, a “community of communities,” has five fire stations. BWG, with its population concentrated in the town of Bradford, has a single fire station – although new growth in Bond Head has increased pressure for a second station.
The biggest challenges for a merger have been identified as the alignment of existing collective agreements, wages, and the new governance model.
Innisfil Council unanimously approved the recommendation to move to Phase 2 of the Shared Fire Services agreement. The proposal will be coming to BWG Council on October 6, for approval.