Council discusses fire dept. safety audit

DIDSBURY - After a couple of special in-camera meetings Didsbury council is looking at moving forward by discussing a fire department safety audit at its next council meeting on July 24.

Didsbury town council met twice last week as they hoped to resolve internal fire department concerns, which led to the resignation of five firefighters. The Town of Didsbury has not made the concerns public but at least one resident says they revolve around safety issues.

Council held special in-camera meetings on July 17 and 18 to deal with personnel. At least one firefighter was seen at the meeting on July 17.

Didsbury mayor Rhonda Hunter told the Gazette in an email that council is looking into the concerns and will discuss the matter further at the next council meeting.

"Resolving the issues that are currently present for the Didsbury Fire Department is a priority of Didsbury Town Council," said Hunter. "At our regular council meeting on July 24, council will be discussing an item regarding a fire department safety audit as part of our commitment to rectify internal issues and help set the fire department on a positive path forward."

Town of Didsbury representatives also met on July 20 with Mountain View County (MVC) representatives as part of the Inter-municipal Collaboration Committee (ICC) to discuss the Didsbury Fire Department situation.

The press release issued jointly by the town and the county regarding the ICC meeting stated that council and administration continue to assure the public that the fire department is able to handle emergency situations that arise in the area.

"Mutual aid agreements have been in effect with neighbouring municipalities for many years that would provide for additional resources and personnel in the event that a situation is larger than the Didsbury department can handle," said Hunter and MVC reeve Bruce Beattie in the release. "Mountain View County council and administration continue to support the Town of Didsbury and the volunteer members of the fire department as they work towards a mutual resolution to the current situation."

Resident Cindy Tippe was at the council meeting on July 17 to show support for the firefighters. In a letter to the editor of the Gazette in this week's paper, Tippe wrote that on July 10 she invited a few members of the community to a meeting to discuss the situation.

"After consulting with a number of others to get the facts we decided to use social media to get the word out," said Tippe.

Tippe added that it was not about being political.

"This is about a safe community and a safe environment for our volunteer firefighters who put their lives on the line to protect us all. The training officer is one of the five or six who quit, and so since that time training has diminished presenting another safety concern," Tippe wrote.

Didsbury resident Brent Swain was also one of a half dozen people who came out before the meeting on July 17 to show their support for the fire department.

"I think the big thing is no one really knows what's going on," said Swain. "It does put the community at risk. I was there hopefully to signal my support for the firefighters and also to let the CAO and council know that they need to get this issue resolved and resolved quickly."

Swain said in talking to people he is wondering why five firefighters would have resigned recently.

"That to me is a serious situation," he said. "It definitely should've been dealt with better. Although I don't have all the details, it sounded as if this situation started to come about in April. The conversation I heard from the group, not from the firefighters, there were concerns about safety issues. If that's the case, that needs to be expressed really quickly because these people put their lives in jeopardy every time they go out regardless of what the call is for."

Swain would also like to see better communication from the town and the council.

"I would like to see the mayor come out and say, 'I know we have a difficult situation. We're going to dig in and come back with a solution' rather than their press releases, which really say nothing," he said.