Fire Department Impasse

Negotiations between the Village of Beiseker and Rocky View County to amalgamate their two fire departments have reached an impasse.  At our village council's last regular meeting, I made a motion to cease fire department amalgamation negotiations with the county.  My motion was passed unanimously.

Both council and I hope that negotiations can resume in the future.

Right now, the village would have benefitted very little from the proposed agreement - but its cost would have really hurt the village coffers!  As the proposed agreement read, Beiseker would still have to provide a fire hall, vehicles and equipment at its own expense; plus, pay the County a hefty fee to operate the facility and train new volunteers.

We agreed that this was just too expensive for our little village!

Where do we go from here?  We (the village and our Fire Department) are putting together a plan to upgrade our old pumper truck with a newer one.  We will also discuss the possibility of a mutual aid agreement with Rocky View.

At present, any emergency situation which occurs to the northeast of Beiseker would be attended by Rocky View firefighters from Irricana and/or Balzac.  We believe that time delay could pose a serious problem.

I'll keep you updated in this space, as things progress.