Muskoka Lakes residents will have a chance starting this week to submit opinions on a township plan that could have three fire stations close by 2034, and six others built or renovated.
“What we’re currently experiencing today with 10 stations is that we have a lot of overlap. So this (proposed model) is designed to remove that overlap and right-size the number of stations,” said fire Chief Ryan Murrell.
The township will be receiving public feedback this week through its social media pages, and online at muskokalakes.ca and engagemuskokalakes.ca.
What is the study about?
The move comes after the township’s finance and general committee received a report on the location study from Murrell on Aug. 13.
The study — the origin coming from the 2022 fire master plan, a detailed study of fire station alignment — recommends a seven-station model for improved service and cost efficiency.
The location study considers keeping the number of stations at 10 or decreasing to seven or five.
The current 10 stations model has a 40-year capital cost of $166.4 million; the seven stations option costs $93.2 million; while the five stations model costs $91.1 million.
It is stated in Murrell’s presentation to committee an independent assessment of each fire station revealed various structural and operational issues:
- Foot’s Bay requires repairs costing over $14,000 and potential expansion costing around $400,000.
- Glen Orchard has extreme space constraints and cannot be expanded.
- Bala’s repairs could exceed $40,000, with no room for expansion.
- Torrance has mould and ventilation issues, with significant storage concerns.
- Port Carling is the newest station but still requires storage improvements costing approximately $20,000 to $24,000.
What are the impacted stations?
The seven-station model is preferred due to better service coverage and lower ongoing capital costs, Murrel said in the report.
Under this proposal, the Torrance, Glen Orchard and Raymond stations would be closed over four years; first Torrance in 2030; then Glen Orchard in 2032; and, lastly, Glen Orchard in 2034. The Walker’s Point and Windermere stations would be renovated (to start in 2029 and 2033, respectively), and there would be new builds for the Minett (starting 2027), Foot’s Bay (2031), Milford Bay (2035) and Bala (2039) stations.
The Port Carling station is not part of this study as it is the newer station.
Are there any immediate concerns?
Coun. Glenn Zavitz questioned Murrell about the seven-station model possibly resulting in “a slower arrival model to particular areas based on a new geography of the proposal.”
“I wouldn’t suggest that this new model is a slower arrival model,” the chief stated. “When we go to a fire, we immediately dispatch three stations … in the last five fires that we’ve recorded in Windermere, Raymond, the actual truck that got there first with (firefighters) and water was out of Port Carling.”
Councillors voted to move the study along for ratification at a council meeting, possibly the October session. The public feedback would be compiled for consideration in time for the ratification vote.
The detailed location study can be found here.