Towns examining regionalization of fire service STEADY BROOK CLIFF WELLS The Western Star

Shawn Leamon, left, Little Rapids volunteer fire fighter, and Ken Maidment, chief of the Steady Brook Fire Department, discuss the possibility of the two towns becoming one fire service. — Star photo by Geraldine Brophy

The fire services of Steady Brook and Little Rapids are getting even closer to becoming one service.

Shawn Leamon, an 18-year veteran of the Little Rapids Volunteer Fire Department, is helping write the amalgamation proposal, along with Andrew May.

Leamon said the political part of the departments is the part where they’re separate — nowhere else.

“Our fire department sees no boundaries as far as geographic area,” Leamon said.
Leamon was the chief of the Steady Brook Fire Department for seven yeas even though he lived in Little Rapids.

“They didn’t have a chief at that time so they decided to ask me if I would like to fill that position until they had a resident who wanted to take it on,” he said. “That’s how non-barriered our department is.”

The vision for the proposal is to have the fees from the Town of Steady Brook, Local Service District of Little Rapids and privately incorporated Humber Village go to a fire service board which will maintain the equipment and train volunteers.

Leamon said he’ll have to consult with Municipal Affairs about providing service to a privately incorporated development with the assets of a regional board.

“Basically our fire departments have responded over the years as one department,” Leamon said.

He said because of the geography he doesn’t see either hall being closed by the amalgamation.

It is possible there will be two co-chiefs and two deputy chiefs for the new department, at least for a while, he said. There will be a representative on the board from Steady Brook council and a member of the local service district board of Little Rapids and a representative from Humber Village on the board if the mechanics can be worked out.

The fire services board would take on responsibility for getting new pagers, trucks and gear for the firefighters where now the town and local service district are responsible for those things.

The amalgamation is in its infancy stage right now as the parties are developing a memorandum of understanding, Leamon said.

Ken Maidment, chief of the Steady Brook Fire Department, agreed that the proposal is acknowledging what’s been the reality for a number of years. When the pagers go off for one department, they go off for both.

He’s looking forward to the regionalization of the department. It’s mostly who pays the bills now that separates the departments, although they’re both approaching amalgamation of the service as equal partners.

“It’s a Step 1,” Maidment said. “We’ll see how it works out over the next little while.

“It’s not something that can go easy and fast. There’s a lot of different things that have to be dealt with with a fire department.”