On Dec. 12 Village of Burns Lake’s meeting, council discussed the response letter received from B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS). The letter was received on Dec. 8.
On Nov. 17, council had sent out a letter to B.C. Emergency Health Services addressing the stressful budget situation of Burns Lake Fire Department due to frequent hospital closures and ambulance shortages in Burns Lake.
The fire department’s expenditure is rising for attending continuous medical calls due to delayed ambulance service within the community which is the main reason for sending out the letter for recouping those expenses.
Within the letter, Leanne Heppell, BCEHS’s executive vice president and chief ambulance officer addressed Henry Wiebe, Burns Lake’s mayor, and stated that they already have a First Responders (FR) agreement with Burns Lake Fire Department.
Heppell added this agreement gives municipalities direct access to manage all costs associated with their participation in pre-hospital care [paramedic service].
The FR agreement primarily sets out the level of service that each local government wants to provide to B.C. Ambulance Service and which type(s) of calls that the department is willing to attend.
Currently, Burns Lake has not signed an agreement, due to disagreements between local government and B.C. Ambulance Service as to the language in the agreement.
Robert Krause, village of Burns Lake’s director of the protective services, denies Heppell’s statement from the letter received by council.
Krause told council that the Burns Lake Fire Department had never signed an agreement with BCEHS due to its one-sided nature after he became the fire chief.
The agreement is one-sided due to the fact the fire department will provide the manpower, vehicle and equipment, while B.C. Ambulance Service will only provide replacement of consumables ( O2, gloves, bandages i.e.).
Krause added that the only agreement his department has is when a local first respondent crew calls explicitly for their help, is understaffed, or when a code purple [highest level] emergency was issued from their dispatch centre in Prince George.
Krause said that these are the emergency situations when Burns Lake Fire Department will respond immediately with other first responders.
“She’s wrong. We don’t have an agreement.”
Krause pointed out that within the letter, Heppell talked about a revised FR agreement that was more flexible to work with communities, which had been addressed by the Ministry, the Fire Chief’s Association of B. C., First Nation’s Services Society of B.C. and the Local Government Management Association.
Krause stated that the last time this FR agreement was revised was before he became the fire chief of Burns Lake Fire Department, which was back in 2016.
Only a handful of communities have signed it, with most opting not to sign based on a recommendation from the Fire Chiefs Association of B.C.
The deadlock has been unresolved for more than seven years. If a new agreement is finalized, then the municipality will consider signing it.
“That’s how long we waited for a revised agreement with BCEHS.”
Krause stressed that normally within a year, there were 20 or 30 code purple medical calls, but now the fire department was also being called for code orange, basically checking patients’ vital patient while an ambulance arrives from Houston or Vanderhoof.
However, he acknowledges that the whole issue is happening because of the frequent hospital closures due to a lack of physicians and ambulance shortages within the community.
Sheryl Worthing, village of Burns Lake’s chief administrative officer informed council that she and Krause had already discussed this situation and did not believe that sending another letter would be helpful.
She suggested that council should send the fire department’s year-end expenditure invoice to BCEHS.
After listening to Krause and Worthing’s statements, council has decided to send the invoice to BCEHS and wait for their response.