Behr report portrays false reality, new data shows

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Three years of data and statistics gathered by the Strathmore Fire Department (SFD) revealed a contradicting response to the previously adopted Behr Energy Services report, which renders the assessment erroneous in regards to meeting the required 10-minute fire response time.
After the report was adopted by town council on Feb. 18, the fire department sifted through three years’ worth of their own historical data, run-sheets, chute times, alarm, smoke detectors, and fire responses within Strathmore to collaborate the theoretical numbers and mappings of the report.
Consequentially, the collected data showed the department was only able to meet the 10-minute response time – from time of dispatch to the scene – 18 per cent of the time as opposed to the provincial requirement of 90 per cent.
“They could be at work, they could be at home asleep, we rely on the dispatch system to notify us of a fire, and it’s not just the travel distance, there’s a lot of factors that go into the fact that we’re still a volunteer service,” said SFD Captain Bas Owel.
“We will do the best when we get to that scene. Reality is however getting there under 10 minutes, 90 per cent of the time, is not achievable for our department the way it sits right now.”
According to information taken from 302 calls during the period of January 2013 and September 2015, 61 per cent of the time the trucks left the station in under 10 minutes but still needed to travel to the scene. While members of the fire department argued that it only takes one minute to have the truck ready to head out when four members are at the fire hall, and only need three minutes to travel anywhere within Strathmore, it’s the time it takes these volunteers to travel to the fire hall from either their work, home, or wherever they are when the dispatch call is received. As the town continues to grow, Owel argued, traffic has become increasingly more of an issue.
Once the fire department compared their findings with those of the report, members of the department affirmed to council on Nov. 4 that the Behr Energy Service report contained false references and incorrect mathematical situations.
“I think the thing that has to be communicated to the public, is that we were presented with this report and with comments that made us believe that this report was accurate,” said Councillor Pat Fule. “For us to accept it, we had to have been convinced that it was a good and sound report.”
Councillor Steve Grajczyk also inquired about the effects of hiring two full-time firefighters to help cut down the response time. However, as four members are always required before a truck can leave the fire hall, the fire chief, deputy fire chief, or captain, who were in attendance at the meeting, were unable to confirm that adding two full-time staff members would allow the department to meet the 10-minute response time. They added however, that it would help, as those are two less members the team would have to wait on before heading out.
As a response to the concerns, council also discussed the idea of implementing a full-time fire department that would cost the town $1.6 million, slowly building up the full-time fire department over six years, and changes that would affect builders and developers.
“One of the concerns that we have in relation to the 10-minutes response is that we don’t want to present the public with a view that we are meeting the 10-minute response and that’s why we came to council to give (them) those facts and that information,” said Owel. “The residents of the Town of Strathmore, when you call we’re not going to be there in 10 minutes. As I made in my presentation with the medical response, we are likely going to be there 13 to 15 minutes. That’s realistic for our department.”
Council also heard from several builders and developers on the issue later on in the meeting.