PENHOLD - The town is moving forward with a new mutual aid agreement with the City of Red Deer.
The Town of Penhold and City of Red Deer first entered into a mutual aid agreement back in March of 1979. The city recently reviewed its mutual assistance agreement and replaced it with a new agreement, noted Rick Binnendyk, the town's chief administrative officer.
The agreement is centred on the Penhold Fire Department's requirements for equipment.
“If we have any requirement for equipment at any point in time, or if they have a requirement for equipment, we can interchange with one another. The agreement is reciprocal,” said Binnendyk. “They did have a request sent to us not that long ago. There was a stand down after but they did require some additional equipment from us,” he added.
Mayor Dennis Cooper noted the importance of the mutual aid agreement.
“This is the only fire department that we have a mutual aid agreement with. We do not have a mutual aid agreement with the County of Red Deer and we do not have a mutual aid agreement with the Town of Innisfail, although in both cases, we've helped either one (in the past),” said Cooper. “The nice thing about the City of Red Deer is they finalized it and they put them together in a document both municipalities can live with.”
He said he hopes nearby municipalities will soon follow Red Deer's example.
“Especially with our (new) ladder truck. This is one of the key assets we have that they look for,” he added. “I'm hoping maybe in the future some other surrounding municipalities will follow Red Deer's lead so that everybody can work in an open, cooperative method of working together and keep everybody safer.”
Rick Binnendyk, chief administrative officer
"If we have any requirement for equipment at any point in time, or if they have a requirement for equipment, we can interchange with one another."
