Planned renovations to the Cremona and District Emergency Services hall will help accommodate new equipment soon coming into service, says fire Chief Kevin Miller.
Two new trucks are currently being built for the department and one of them is too big for the fire hall in Cremona, he said.
The current rescue truck in Cremona, which is used to haul extrication equipment to motor vehicle collisions, was built in 2002 and is due for replacement.
“One of our biggest struggles right now is actually transporting enough manpower to the scene quickly, because a good chunk of our trucks in Cremona can only actually seat two people,” said Miller, adding the new truck will seat six.
County council passed a motion during its Jan. 27 meeting to submit a joint application with the village for the Alberta Community Partnership Grant for a maximum of $200,000.
Cremona council also passed a motion during its Jan. 19 meeting to assign the county as the administering partner for the grant application.
“It's going to be pretty big. There's quite a bit of moving of walls and adding floors and things like that,” said Luana Smith, chief administrative officer for the village.
The Cremona fire hall currently houses five trucks, including the rescue truck, a command utility truck, bush truck, water tender and a structural firefighting engine.
The fire department will also be receiving a new dual-purpose bush truck for its fire hall in Water Valley, which will be the primary medical apparatus and will also be used to fight wildfires.
The department currently has a bush truck, which was built in 1996, and a medical truck in Water Valley, but the new vehicle will replace both of them.
Miller said 60 per cent of the department's call volume is for medical response.
“That's something that we take very seriously. We're actually more than 30 minutes away from an ambulance and so when our citizens in the area ultimately have some form of a problem it's our goal to get there as quickly as possible so that we can assist them until an ambulance can get there,” he said.
“So having a medical truck out there for our responders as well as in Cremona just enhances our ability to get to that patient a little bit quicker.”
The Cremona and District Fire Department serves not only the Village of Cremona but also Water Valley and surround areas.
"One of our biggest struggles right now is actually transporting enough manpower to the scene quickly, because a good chunk of our trucks in Cremona can only actually seat two people."Kevin MillerCremona fire chief
