County approves new fire equipment purchase 

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Wheatland County council has approved the expenditure of $112,530 for the purchase of new safety equipment for the Dalum Fire Protection Association.

The request made of the county was to facilitate the purchase of self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) and related equipment. The county’s approval was made during the March 3 council meeting.

The county’s contribution fulfills their obligation to contribute 60 per cent of expenses relating to the association’s equipment needs.

“Twice a year, the fire capital committee meets. They met again in early February and as part of the discussion, there was a resolution that arose out of this to request the county to provide some funding for the SCBA,” said Joel Chiasson, interim general manager of community and development services. “It is some safety equipment that they wear along with some air tanks and the new compressor. This ask includes eight new SCBA pieces. During the discussion point in the meeting, they emphasized ensuring that it is similar or the same equipment as the rest of the fire associations and the county fire halls just so that they can have consistency and share equipment in emergencies when needed.”

The funding is to be taken from the county’s Fire Capital Reserve and is to be noted in the 2026 operating budget once it comes to finality. 

Approval of the request for funding to purchase new SCBA equipment was made, citing that current equipment is outdated and under an older, pre-2018 National Fire Protection Association safety standard. 

Upon the acquisition of the new equipment, the Dalum Fire Protection Association will be brought up to date with the other seven departments present throughout the county and will be able to support collaboration at larger incidents.

“As part of this … they also talked about, once they have consistent equipment, of inventorying the dates and starting a lifecycle replacement plan for all of the county and association SCBA equipment,” said Chiasson. “This specific request from Dalum was just to ensure that their current equipment gets up to date, as well as their compressor, which is also very old.”

It was indicated to council that the Dalum Rural Fire Association had gathered the necessary finances to pay for their 40 per cent share of the expense, as per their existing agreement with the county. 

Coun. Rick Laursen motioned that council approve the request as outlined in their agenda package. This motion was passed unanimously without further discussion or questions by council.