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Cypress County praising new Dunmore Fire Station two months in

Feb 26, 2018 | 4:26 PM

 

DUNMORE, AB – Cypress County’s newest fire station is meeting expectations two months after opening.

Purchased by the county for $1.3 million last summer, the former Outlaw Collision building opened 22 volunteer firefighters and three trucks on January 1.

Fire chief Kelly Meyer said they’re hoping to make use of the added space, both now and down the line.

“We have adequate room for our trucks, room to grow,” said Meyer. “Out back, there is about five acres that in the future hopefully [we’ll] have a training facility.”

Since the move, the station has been fairly quiet with just seven calls for service including five collisions, one medical response, and one potential structure fire.

Councillor Robin Kurpjuweit said the long-term future of the Dunmore Station remains up in the air, but added council is happy with the first eight weeks of service.

“Whether it’s temporary or permanent, [how] that’s going to fit into the long-term plan yet, we haven’t had any of those conversations yet,” said Kurpjuweit. “But, for right now the building is managing very well.”

On June 7, 2018, council voted down Meyer’s initial recommendation 6-3 to build a new station on 2nd Avenue from scratch.

Although the Outlaw Building proposal wasn’t Meyer’s first choice, he said it’s serving their needs well.

“In the beginning, it was a little hard to visualize without truck placement, what was in here, how it was going to work,” he said. “But actually seeing it work as of January 1, it’s more than what we need.”

Along with moving into the new building, the county purchased a Wildland rapid attack vehicle, which came into their possession in late December.

The vehicle allows firefighters to move across rugged terrain and areas that normal fire trucks couldn’t access.

“It’s been on motor vehicle collisions, medical first response, went to that potential structure fire,” said Meyer. “And also, the only thing it hasn’t been used for is a wild land fire.”

The county could also be taking a more hands-off approach when it comes to legislating fire services in the future.

On Friday, the Fire Services Board passed a motion to recommend dissolving the committee, something the county has been talking about since 2016.

With a fire services agreement with the City of Medicine Hat, a new Dunmore Fire Station and a new chief, Kurpjuweit said it makes sense to pull the plug on the committee.

“We now have our full-time chief, we need to be able to stand back and support him,” he said. “We don’t want to be micro-managing him through committee, we want to empower that individual to move forward and be the leader that he needs to be.”

While the motion was passed by the Fire Services Board, it will need to go to council for approval.

Closing in on his first anniversary as chief, Meyer said he’s optimistic about the future of fire services in the county.

“We’re one big team, one big family, and everybody is excited from what I’ve heard so far.”

Council will make a decision on the future of the Fire Services Board at their next meeting on March 6.