North Wellington fire departments crossing municipal borders to respond faster

NORTH WELLINGTON – How firefighters in Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North are dispatched to emergencies has changed with a new three-way agreement.

Instead of paging fire stations in the same municipality as an emergency, calls will go to whichever station can arrive the soonest.

"This is the best thing we can do for the residents of our three municipalities to make sure that we are getting people on the scene quicker and more efficiently," fire chief Chris Harrow said during an Aug. 11 Mapleton council meeting.

It's known as a “Borderless Response Agreement,” and all three municipalities have signed on.

For now, the agreement doesn't involve financial compensation between the municipalities, with the goal each will benefit equally.

But Harrow said response data will be regularly monitored, and compensation can be later discussed if a municipality is carrying a heavier load.

The agreement's impact will be most noticeable when there's a two-station response, Harrow said.

"The net benefit is seeing two stations be able to get on scene a lot quicker."

The chief expects Mount Forest and Teviotdale will see better response times.

Some Minto Fire stations can provide better coverage of Mount Forest than Wellington North Fire Services can. And in Teviotdale, Mapleton Fire Rescue has closer stations than Minto Fire does.

The three fire departments have been working under a partnership agreement, called the Tri Fire Services, for more than two years.

Fire officials said “since its inception, the partnership has shown an improvement in inter-station relationships and the ability to operate more consistently together.”

“Currently, each member department operates within their own municipal boundaries,” states a report Harrow presented to Wellington North council on Aug. 10, and Mapleton and Minto councils on Aug. 11. 

“If they need to travel outside of their municipal boundary, it is [currently] classified as mutual aid.”

"This agreement would go over top of the mutual aid agreements that we have," he told Mapleton council.

Harrow’s report states the system “works well for getting multiple stations on scene; however, it does not always allow the closest stations to respond.”

Under the proposed agreement, drive-time analysis will factor road networks, speed limits, traffic concerns and turnout times to determine the closest response.

“Data will be tracked each year of how many times trucks cross municipal boundaries and figures will be presented to council each year to review the usage of each set of fire apparatus,” Harrow’s report states. 

If approved by the councils, the agreement will run for three years “so data can be correlated and brought to each council for information, and to make a decision on continuing the agreement as is or with modifications."

A clause in the agreement would handle a council opting out before three years, Harrow noted.

Wellington North councillor Sherry Burke asked if officials had considered how the change could impact firefighter burnout should a station experience high call volume.

"We definitely consider that all the time," Harrow said.

"We are hoping that this will actually help ... we are not sending firefighters long distances to calls ... for example it won't cause Arthur to come all the way down to Mount Forest all the time because we have Harriston closer."

Wellington North councillor Steve McCabe said he likes the agreement and how "as the tri-township fire services evolve, we are finding ways to streamline the whole team, including this agreement, where the closest firehouse responds, cutting down your response time and hopefully ... saving people's lives."

Mapleton councillor Michael Martin also expressed support: "I love this report. I'm glad the chief has brought forward his previous experience as a paramedic into the seamless coverage."

The province currently dispatches whatever ambulance is closest to an emergency, regardless of what municipality employs the crew.

"I think it's wonderful ... I hope other municipalities follow this example of seamless coverage," Martin added.

Mapleton Mayor Gregg Davidson also approved of the new system.

"It's very progressive that we have this Tri Fire Service and this is another piece of the progression to make it seamless that we are responding together at calls regardless of the border. That's what the idea of the Tri Fire was, that we were going to work together – in not only equipment and training, but also in response," Davidson said.