ARICHAT: To determine who is responsible for fire hydrants, the municipality wants to study the bylaws of other units.
Richmond Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Don Marchand told the Feb. 22 regular monthly meeting in Arichat that municipal staff contacted 24 municipalities across the province.
The CAO said staff determined that hydrants are handled in two ways; fire departments themselves are solely responsible, and in other cases, municipalities provide funding and help fire departments with installation and maintenance.
“In the hybrid models, there was various levels of participation on the municipality’s part,” he said. “In a lot of cases, they would provide minimum funding and then hand over these dry hydrants to the fire departments with no further obligation regarding maintenance, short-term or long-term. And then some were a little more involved. They would provide for a lot more funding, and not take the lighter maintenance, but any major maintenance, they would partake in.”
During the regular monthly meeting on Jan. 25, warden Amanda Mombourquette told council that the Strait Area Mutual Aid Association and volunteer fire departments in the municipality identified 14 “dry hydrants.”
Mombourquette recommended staff research the financial responsibility, costs, environmental regulations, easements, and geographic locations, and Marchand suggested staff examine how other municipalities deal with hydrants.
Because they cannot wait too long, council approved a motion in January to have staff report back as soon as possible.
Based on information compiled by Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) coordinator Brett Hershey, Marchand told last week’s council meeting that staff recommends volunteer fire departments take full responsibility for the installation and maintenance of dry hydrants, but if council wants to adopt the hybrid model, discussions be moved to budget deliberations.
“Either way, it would be in council’s best interests to create a policy regarding these dry hydrants, whether we partake or don’t partake in the installation of these hydrants,” the CAO told council.
Deputy Warden Michael Diggdon said since this is a safety issue, the municipality should make sure the hydrants are installed. By not making a decision sooner and helping the departments, he feels council is passing the buck. He recommended council sit down with fire chiefs and the EMO to get the ball rolling and get everyone on the same page.
“I have no problem with splitting the cost of installation, I have a problem with the volunteers of the fire department installing,” he noted. “Some of our fire departments do have very good resources or funding available. I guess we can work with them to come to a solution of cost. I believe it’s on the county to make sure that they’re all installed the same and adequately.”
District 5 councillor Brent Sampson said there might be grants available, and the EMO coordinator can explore any and all avenues of government funding.
“Even if there was, let’s say financial aid from the province, they may not be able to come up with the rest regardless anyway, and maybe that’s where we can fill in the gap,” he said.
District 1 councillor Shawn Samson said this responsibility shouldn’t fall on volunteers.
Although she found Hershey’s presentation informative, district 3 councillor Melanie Sampson was “surprised” at his recommendation despite the wishes of councillors to consider a hybrid method.
Mombourquette said some comments from various departments surrounded safety; specifically the level of maintenance, testing, inspection reports, and who is financially responsible.
The warden said these issues can be hashed out by the Policy and Bylaw Committee and it will be discussed during budget deliberations.
Council passed a motion to have the CAO reach out to municipalities using the hybrid system to get information on their bylaws.