City, County reach Fire Services Automatic-Aid Agreement

The City and County of Grande Prairie are hoping a new agreement will make for the most efficient response times possible for their fire departments when answering calls for service.

The two municipalities have agreed in principle to a Fire Services Automatic-Aid Agreement, which would see each other’s fire departments be able to answer a call in either municipality. The station called to the scene would be geographically based, meaning the nearest station, regardless of which municipality it belongs to, would be the one to respond.

“The principle of effective fire suppression is that you send the closest unit,” said Community Services Director with the County Dan Lemieux. “It doesn’t matter where the closest unit is coming from. So, it’s really nice that both municipalities are having this discussion.”

According to the County, both the City and County have undertaken analysis of how this may affect their call volumes, adding that they are in agreeance that it shouldn’t increase or decrease their workloads.