By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Fire master plan to guide strategic planning for the next 20 years

Mar 28, 2017 | 12:07 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A new fire master plan will ensure that Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services (LFES) will be able to keep the city safe well into the future.
 
Dillon Consulting was tasked to undertake the analysis, which was finished in February 2017. The final report was presented to City Council on Monday (Mar. 27) by Fire Chief Rich Hildebrand.
 
The ten page document contains 32 recommendations to guide strategic planning, business planning and other operating and capital investments for the LFES over the next 20 years.
 
City Council approved the master plan, as well as two service level recommendations within the document, suggested by Alberta’s occupational health and safety code for fire departments.
 
“The first recommendation was for us to achieve a first response time for our emergency vehicles of 10 minutes or less, 90-per cent of the time,” explained Hildebrand.
 
“The second benchmark was this notion of depth of response. The question as a manager you ask yourself is, ‘Are you getting enough resources on site fast enough to do the job that you’re hoping they can do?’… We need to not only get there quickly, but we need to get there with the right number of people and the right equipment.”
 
Hildebrand added that it usually takes 12 to 14 firefighters to handle a single family residence fire, which Council also approved as part of the second recommendation.
 
He also noted that the LFES is able to meet both of these recommendations currently.
 
In order for Lethbridge’s fire/EMS teams to continue to meet the 10 minute response goal in the future, the master plan suggests a six station model (pictured above). An additional fire station in the southern end of the west side and replacing the one in the south could go up for funding in the 2018-2027 Capital Improvement Program (CIP), while a new north side station is envisioned within the next 10 to 20 years.
 
The fire master plan’s analysis ultimately focuses on four strategic priorities:
 
– utilizing a community risk assessment to determine the level of existing and projected fire safety risks within in the municipality as the basis for evaluating the current and future fire protection services;
– optimizing the three lines of defense, including public education, fire safety standards and code enforcement, and providing well trained and equipped firefighters for an effective emergency response;
– sustaining a full integrated fire/EMS operating model; and
– emphasizing strategies that provide the most cost effective and efficient fire protection services.
 
The remainder of the recommendations laid out in the plan will be prioritized by LFES staff and implemented as they see fit.