St. John’s Regional Fire Department (SJRFD) Goulds Station will transition from a mostly volunteer-based service, to full-time career firefighters within three to four years.
The change comes after 43 years running as a volunteer station.
SJRFD Chief Sherry Colford made the announcement at Central Fire Station Friday morning.
“It should improve our service,” she said, explaining that’s because firefighters will run out of the station as opposed to volunteers having to leave their homes.
Currently the Goulds station is a composite department made up of both full-time and volunteer firefighters.
While paid, career firefighters run the Goulds station weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the other 76 per cent of the time Goulds residents receive fire protection services from volunteers in their community — this despite paying the same mill rate as all other City of St. John’s residents, who are served 24-7 by career firefighters.
For the union representing metro firefighters, St. John’s Fire Fighters Association, the transition to a full-time station is welcome news. It’s something for which they’ve been advocating for roughly two decades, said president Craig Smith, who attended the announcement Friday morning.
“To hear this news this morning was really tremendous.”
“We’ve stated before that we recognize the Goulds’ (volunteer) work that they’ve done, and the professionalism, however it’s always about public safety for us.”
Smith was outspoken about his concerns in an interview with The Telegram in October last year, pointing especially to safety concerns for residents of Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove which has a service agreement with SJRFD.
Because Goulds volunteers only respond to the Goulds area, calls for Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove are dispatched out of other stations after hours and on weekends.
“They have to wait for a Mount Pearl station and possibly the station on Topsail Road to travel through a jurisdiction (Goulds) whereby there is a station, there is equipment, and there is manpower on the payroll of the City of St. John’s that could fill that station 24-7 and it’s not happening,” Smith said at the time.
According to raw data provided by SJRFD for between January to October 2018, SJRFD was dispatched 14 times to Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove. Four of those responses were during hours that Goulds station was manned with full-time staff, and their average response time was eight minutes and 45 seconds.
During volunteer hours, firefighters came from Mount Pearl Station or West End Station and the average time for those responses was 15 minutes and 36 seconds.
“There is a difference in an expected response time when you’re a volunteer department,” said Colford after Friday’s announcement, however she said the decision to switch to a full-time station in Goulds was not because of concerns with response times.
“It’s being proactive, and knowing that there is growth in that area, there’s growth on the west end that’s happening, and we’re trying to get ahead of it.”
The switch means a new station is required, and next week the process to find an appropriate location and available land for the station will begin. More firefighters will also be required – a minimum of 12, said Colford. Currently Goulds station has four full-time firefighters and 30 volunteers.
The new building is expected to cost roughly $3.5 million, and there will be an additional operational cost of about $2.8 million, said Colford.
Mayor Danny Breen said the additional costs will be factored into the city’s four-year budget plan which hasn’t yet been finalized.
Colford said the Goulds station will remain a composite department for the next four years until the new station is ready to open.
She said SJRFD has been hiring Goulds volunteers for some time, and they are welcome to apply for the recruitment process to be considered for the new Goulds station.
Goulds volunteer fire chief Sean Hemeon said volunteers are “delighted” about the change.
“They’ve been asking for it for quite some time now,” he said.
Coun. Wally Collins, council lead for the Regional Fire Services Committee, called the Goulds volunteer firefighters heroes.
“They’re after saving a lot of homes, a lot of lives, and we respect them very much, and we thank them for the 43 years of service, and I guess they’re going to have another couple of years before we gets the station built – hopefully they’ll stay on.”
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
Related
Goulds area of St. John's deserves full-time firefighters: union
