At the Feb. 6 meeting, the Village of Burns Lake discussed the emergency calls out of the district, also known as Policy ES1.
Rob Krause, Village of Burns Lake director of protective services, said if the fire department responds to medical emergencies outside of the fire protection area, then there’s no cost reimbursement. He said that under the fire protection article, there won’t be any claims for these costs at all.
He added that BC Wildfire emergency calls have a standard rate that is published and agreed upon by the BC Fire Chiefs Association and BC Wildfire Services each year. Based on the industrial agreements, the Burns Lake Fire Department uses that same rate. During an emergency call, the fire department charges a per truck per hour fee based on that same rate.
Krause said that the province sets a rate for road rescue operations, and the fire department is trying to bring it up to the provincial wildfire rates because it’s insufficient. “They don’t pay us enough for road rescues.”
He stated that when the RCMP requests the fire department to attend a scene, there are some cost reimbursements through the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness under medical rescue operations.
Krause also informed council about homeowner’s insurance policy. During those borderline emergency calls, the fire department can go outside the fire protection area, submit a claim to the insurance company or send a bill to a homeowner who isn’t insured for attending to put the fire out from the property.
Kevin White, Village of Burns Lake councillor, asked whether the rates were the same for other fire departments in other regional districts. He questioned whether the funds would go to the protective services.
Krause said that the fire department’s trucks have different rates, which the province had already set. He stated that the Burns Lake Fire Department was assisting BC Wildfire Services on night shifts for the Tintagel wildfire as it falls within Burns Lake’s fire protection area. Two trucks were sent for the night shift operation. One truck was charged to the Burns Lake municipality due to legal mandates, and the other was charged to the province. “The province paid the higher rate out of the two trucks,” he said.
Krause added that the funds went to the protective services in the cost recovery and stated that last year, those funds were reinvested to purchase sprinkler units, relay tanks and pumps for wild-land fires. “About 80 per cent of the money was reinvested back into wild-land equipment and supplies because that’s how we generated the money. The other 20 per cent was put into reserves for anything we might need to purchase in the future,” he said.
Mayor Henry Wiebe asked whether the protective services funds were also used for maintenance costs.
Krause answered that the maintenance costs were given first priority from the protective services funds. He said that some of the money was spent on replacing the truck’s tires, and $20,800 was spent on pump replacements. The maintenance was done in order to get the trucks operational for emergencies without impacting the fire department’s financial budget.
After the discussion, Mayor Wiebe approved the Policy ES1 and the council agreed.