Fire and Water

As reported in the Vernon Morning Star willing bystanders responded to request for assistance with a hose by a member of the Vernon career Fire fighters. This was during a short time when other the full time firefighters were gassing up a truck. We can certainly be grateful to these good citizens for their willingness to help. It certainly reminds us of the volunteer roots of fire suppression in North America and that many communities continue to rely on paid on call firefighters including Vernon and our surrounding communities. Vernon does have a cadre of full time career fighters that form the core of the Fire and Rescue Services. Perhaps not unexpectedly we heard some criticism from the full time people regarding this request for help for bystanders. As far as I can tell the “dispute” appears to revolve around shift strength and public safety. The union feels that present policy is inadequate but does not blame the chief but rather City Council for not providing sufficient resources to increase the numbers on any particular shift. This could easily become prohibitively expensive.

I am comfortable with this ongoing tension between the management of risk and cost. It seems to produce a service that is both viable and affordable. What is more, the affordability questions are in the hands of the elected officials. Ultimately City Council has the burden of deciding what services are “adequate” and what we will pay but I am sure that candidates in the fall elections will be quizzed as to their feelings about Vernon Fire and Rescue.

There is another source tension for our elected officials in this election year. It revolves around the provision of a safe and reliable water supply. A costly endeavor to say the least but made more expensive by the incidence of IHA of the inclusion of filtration in the RDNO master water plan. Again it is a problem of management risk (very small) and cost (very large) for vanishingly small improvements. It appears the final decision of the level of service and how much we will pay is out of the hands of the elected officials. I am not comfortable with the apparent scare tactics employed by the IHA in stating the water systems in the Okanagan are not adequate. The issue of water clarity should be decided locally as long safety concerns are met.

Fire and water always a source of tension.

Shawn Lee a Vernon Taxpayer