Leamington adopts new Fire Master Plan

A Fire Master Plan has been in the works for many months in the Municipality of Leamington and that plan was presented to Leamington Council on February 27.

The plan was developed by the Loomex Group and representatives were on hand to take council members through the recommendations included in the plan.

In total, the plan calls for 32 recommendations, all categorized into policy measures that will need council approval or implementation by the new Fire Chief — once they are hired.

These policy measures include compliance, by-law updates, staffing refinement, fire prevention and training enhancements, all tailored for the new Fire Chief to consider when necessary.

The Loomex Group also determined that the current marine rescue unit owned by the Leamington Fire Services needs numerous upgrades to be compliant with health and safety standards.

Councillor Paul Tiessen asked about the cost versus benefit factor regarding Leamington’s Fire Rescue boat.

Representatives of Loomex answered that concerns about the training level and size of boat have to be weighed against the number of calls that they’ve had.

“Another term we haven’t talked about is firefighter safety,” added Loomex Group’s Bill Lorimer.

Leamington Fire Services has been operating its marine rescue boat since 2006 — a 23-foot Seaswirl with a 200 HP Evinrude ETEC engine.

Over the past five years (2018-22), a total of 15 calls involved the fire rescue boat, which usually runs out of Leamington Marina. Of those 15 calls, two were for disabled vessels, two for medical assistance from EMS, one for an oil spill, five calls were incorrectly reported as emergencies. Three calls were to assist other departments, one call was to assist OPP in a potential drowning and another was to help recover a body.

With the report coming out, administration made the decision to suspend the marine rescue unit immediately, based on safety concerns.

This doesn’t mean that council has decided not to have a fire rescue boat in the future, but that the current boat does not meet current safety standards outlined in the report.

Council adopted the Fire Master Plan, in which they can vote on any of the recommendations contained within, including whether to purchase a new fire boat and provide firefighters with the proper training for the new vessel.

Other issues in the Master Plan include collaboration with EMS and other neighbouring fire services, which can be addressed by council and the new Fire Chief, when hired.

Leamington’s interim Fire Chief is Don Williamson, who is the Fire Chief for Lakeshore. He’s been in place since the departure of Chief Andrew Baird a year ago.