Town to enter mutual aid agreement with Calgary

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore is intending to enter into a secondary emergency response fire services agreement with the City of Calgary.

Presented for council’s information during the June 24 meeting, administration noted the agreement will establish the terms under which Calgary Fire Department resources may be requested as a secondary response when additional fire service support is required.

Inversely, the agreement also outlines how and when Strathmore fire resources may be requested should the city be in need of additional support. 

Director Mark Pretzlaff explained the Town of Strathmore currently maintains similar mutual aid agreements with Wheatland County and the City of Chestermere. 

Financially, the implications to the town are relatively limited. There is no annual preparedness fee, and costs would only be applied in cases where assistance were requested by the city and provided. 

Town of Strathmore Fire Services will remain the primary first responders for the town, with City of Calgary resources only being requested by the sitting Fire Chief or their designate. 

Should a request be unable to be answered when resources are requested, a given municipal partner retains the ability to decline requests should a situation arise. 

“It is likewise with every mutual partner. For example, if the City of Chestermere, we requested their assistance and they did not have the resources due to an emergency, they can decline, and likewise,” said Pretzlaff.

The agreement aims to be in place for a period of five years and would include expectations regarding incident command, firefighter safety, communications, response mapping, fire inspections, insurance, indemnification, invoicing, and reciprocal service delivery. 

Strathmore will also be required to maintain their current 24/7 response capacity, as well as operational expectations such as compatible incident command practices, water supply, equipment, and an operational fire station. 

Attributes of these expectations are outlined in the service agreement, the draft of which was made publicly available via the town’s council meeting agenda.

Because the agreement is to be operational and intended to support public safety and community service, public consultation was not required prior to presenting the intention of signing the agreement before council. 

During the course of the meeting, because it was, at the time, presented for council’s information, no motions were put to the floor, nor was any voting necessary to take place.

It was not directly indicated during the meeting, nor in the meeting agenda when the agreement would be signed, nor when precisely it would become active.