Fire Service Agreement between Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Central Saanich and View Royal

COUNCIL REPORT

TO: Mayor & Council
DATE: May 12, 2016
FROM: Paul M Hurst, Fire Chief, Director of Protective Services
MEETING DATE: May 17, 2016

Fire Service Agreement between the District of Saanich, District of Oak Bay, Township of Esquimalt, District of Central Saanich and Town of View Royal

RECOMMENDATION:

THAT the Town of View Royal enter into a Fire Service Agreement with the Corporation of the District of Saanich, Corporation of the District of Central Saanich, Township of Esquimalt, and the Corporation of the District of Oak Bay for the provision of resources for emergency incident response in the form attached to the Fire Chief’s report dated May 12, 2016;

AND FURTHER THAT staff be authorized to execute said agreement.

CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER'S COMMENTS:

I concur with the recommendation.

PURPOSE OF REPORT:

The purpose of this report is to receive authority to enter into a Fire Service Agreement (Attachment “A”) between the Township of Esquimalt, Town of View Royal, Corporation of the District of Central Saanich, Corporation of the District of Saanich and the Corporation of the District of Oak Bay.

BACKGROUND:

The proposed signatories to this agreement have mutual aid and automatic aid agreements with individual municipalities for services, both formally and informally since the establishment of the departments. Changes to the Fire Service which include common dispatch, computer aided dispatch and a commitment to work collaboratively with other municipal fire departments to explore and develop projects and agreements that maintain cost control or improve service delivery, have provided opportunities between the parties to create this document for consideration.

The Fire Chiefs of the Districts, Towns and Townships attached to this agreement have created an agreement that will mutually benefit each party and enhance the level of life safety and property protection currently provided in the participating jurisdictions.

This draft agreement is consistent with the principles of collaboration and the concept of shared services currently under consideration within the Capital Region as local government elected officials and their residents explore efficiencies in the delivery of municipal services.

The draft Fire Service Agreement for consideration was developed through a holistic systems based approach that considered fundamental components of a Fire Service Agreement that will mutually benefit each party.

The parties to this agreement share an NFPA compliant dispatch service which allows for increased service levels and minimizing costs. Radio communications between the fire departments are common and shared allowing for interoperability between agencies providing timely and effective communication during response.

DISCUSSION:

The National Fire Protection Association Standard 1201, the standard for providing emergency services to the public references, where practical, emergency service organizations shall have written mutual aid and automatic and agreements with other jurisdictions or providers of special operations or particular services and all personnel shall receive training to ensure compatible operations.

The benefits of firefighting mutual aid, automatic aid agreements are significant to participating communities and at a minimum must address the following issues:

indemnity, liability for injuries,
reimbursement for cost of service,
authorization to respond,
levels of staffing,
types of equipment,
resources to be made available designation of the Incident Commander.

The draft Fire Services Agreement before Council is written in the context of providing service to enhance the level of life safety and property protection available to citizens of the participating jurisdictions and to demonstrate equity through reasonable commitment and distribution of resources within their jurisdictions to ensure that no participant unfairly benefits at the expense of the other participants.

The agreement provides the opportunity for the Fire Chiefs to develop policies and guidelines for response between agencies that could include closest engine response, automatic aid for high risk structures and standby move up models to support agencies involved in an incident.

The agreement is complimentary and does not restrict any party to participate in any other fire service, mutual aid, automatic aid or memorandum of understanding with another party. Once the incident has been brought under control resources from this agreement will be released as soon as possible.

The agreement identifies liability and indemnities between the parties. A resolution dispute process is also included.

The term of this agreement will be five (5) years and shall renew automatically for five (5) year term under the specifics of Section 3.

Through the Fires Services Committee, the Fire Chiefs will identify training opportunities between the parties to ensure safe and compatible operations and agency familiarity to response areas, apparatus equipment etc. while maintaining emergency response capability in each jurisdiction.

The Fire Service Agreement considers equity and fairness in the sharing and distribution of resources of each jurisdiction.

The development of operational policies and guidelines will consider the equity of the resource allocation in the decision making process. There are provisions in the agreement to address replacement of any extra ordinary consumables, reimbursement for deductibles or repair any damage to equipment that may result while providing assistance. The mutual sharing of resources through this agreement allows communities to be fiscally responsible while providing excellent service. Cost equalization is achieved through a blend of shared resources between the parties.

BUDGET IMPLICATIONS:

View Royal would not incur additional operational costs under this Fire Service Agreement.

Within the terms of the Fire Service Agreement the partnering jurisdictions have the opportunity, upon request, to be reimbursed for the replacement of any extraordinary consumables, reimbursement for deductibles, or repair any damages to equipment that may result while providing assistance.

ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION:

Council directs staff to participate in the Fire Service Agreement with the District of Saanich, Township of Esquimalt, Oak Bay and the District of Central Saanich to enhance the level of life safety and property protection available to citizens in the participating jurisdictions.
Council could choose to direct staff to reconvene with the other parties to this agreement to address a specific concern from Council with regard to the draft Fire Services Agreement before Council.
Council could choose to receive the report for information and not participate in the proposed agreement. This action is not recommended as it limits the option of Council to meet strategic objectives