A proposed partnership among local municipalities to fund a state-of-the-art training facility for foothills firefighters is a worthwhile venture.
Members of the High River Fire Department are trying to spark support among the Towns of High River and Okotoks and the MD of Foothills to fund an estimated $850,000 fire training facility which could be built along the Highway 2A corridor near Aldersyde.
The project makes sense for a number of reasons. First, local fire departments have to travel to Calgary, Lethbridge, Brooks or even Nisku to complete their training which is not only costly (up to $1,500 per day to rent the facilities), but it also means communities will not have a full complement of firefighters nearby when they are off training.
If a training facility was built in the MD of Foothills, not only would it be available to local fire departments for training it could also be available for other departments to rent. This could generate revenue for the municipalities or at least cover the facility’s cost and maintenance. In addition, should an emergency arise, firefighters who were training would be close by and able to respond.
A local training facility will also be more important as the communities grow. Okotoks’ fire department continues to move away from depending on volunteers as it hires more full-time firefighters. Okotoks now has full-time fire coverage 24/7. High River also has a growing roster of full-time personnel and the MD has been looking at hiring full-time firefighters to staff the new Heritage Pointe Fire Hall. As more full-time firefighters come on board, the need for ongoing training will be critical and a local facility will be well used.
Finally, with growth in the communities local firefighters are having to deal with potential dangers they have never faced before — at least not on a regular basis.
Large buildings such as Costco and Home Depot and more densely populated condo developments and hotels are commonplace in the Foothills and firefighters, many of whom are still volunteers, need to be trained to handle these new situations.
A fire training facility is a low cost, high reward proposal. However, if cost is an issue the partnership could be expanded to include the County of Vulcan, MD of Willow Creek and perhaps County of Rocky View as well.
This project may not be a top priority right now as municipalities are putting the final touches on their budgets for 2012, but a fire training facility should not be on the back burner.
