To the Editor,
Town Council realized back in 2012 that the current fire hall was unacceptable. Council of that time undertook a study of the existing hall with a thought towards doing renovations or modifications to bring the property somewhat up to standard. When the number on that exercise exceeded 2.5 million for work that would have a very short lifespan the decision was made to look into a new building.
Council sent out a Request for Proposals, carefully scored the submissions received and awarded the contract to an architectural firm who had considerable experience in building public buildings and who were cognizant of energy efficiency requirements.
The architectural firm made numerous trips to Creston. Initially to review sites that in their experience were suitable for a new structure. Personally, I favoured the bunker site but in short order, it was proven that site unsuitable for numerous reasons. The property next to the RCMP station was also proven unsuitable for numerous reasons which have been specified in the previous presentations.
Town Council or the Fire Department didn’t sit down with napkins and draw up a list of what was needed in a new fire hall. The Architects, reviewed the services we currently provide, the 11,500 square feet the Fire department and B.C. Ambulance currently occupy and the various Worksafe regulations. They established a need for a building of less than 16,500 square feet to meet the current and future needs of our valley.
The extra 5,000 square feet predominately consisted of decontamination space for fire gear and space for an emergency operations centre. It is a provincial requirement that communities have an operational Emergency Operations Centre.
Costs for fire halls have proven to be in the $300 to $350 per square foot for new halls built in the past 5 years. That seems like a high number but that is the cost to build to the building code standards for post-disaster buildings which a fire /ambulance hall must meet.
Yes, I have seen the letters from local contractors who claim lower numbers and I look forward to their bids on the new building.
So what have I learned from the numerous open houses and Facebook entries and letters to the editor?
Sadly, I have learned that certain people have no regards for the facts. We are still being faced with people who perceive they have better site locations than the current one chosen by experts. Statements such as “the Town has doubled utility rates.” “ I was told you didn’t use the Architects from Cranbrook who would have been cheaper.” “You paid $60,000 to replace an axle on the new fire truck.” None of this is true.
At some of the open houses, people constantly had operational questions about how many times we open the doors on the fire hall, how often and why we attend certain calls but nothing to do with the actual fire hall. It is questionable that people carried NO signs picketing before the presentation of facts.
“If you knew you needed a new fire hall why didn’t you save up for it.” To acquire money to save up, Council would have to increase taxes. We are reticent to tax people for services they aren’t currently receiving as that doesn’t seem fair.
Regarding “We support the Fire department but there needs to be a plan B.” That would incur further cost. Council did due diligence in the hiring of experts to do a design and needs analysis. Plan B would entail the hiring of a new consultant, a new needs analysis, and those incumbent costs and likely a similar number would come forward. We can’t really reduce the size of the hall without deleting some of the current services provided.
Our Volunteer firefighters are our greatest asset. Replacing them with full time paid fire crews would cost the community nearly $4 million per year. When you recognize the value of these volunteers, surely we can commit to providing them with a safe facility to train and work from.
Yours truly,
Jim Elford
Creston, BC