District of Barriere eyeing federal help to replace outdated fire station

“Right now, if we were to establish an EOC, we’re very restricted within the district in terms of capacity to manage an incident that is really large. We would like to see the fire hall transition into an all-scope practice for emergency preparedness,” Hovenkamp said.

“We’ve got four people working out of here and the real tight space makes it difficult to navigate anything within the day.”

And then there are the health risks caused by diesel exhaust fumes and carcinogens that firefighters are subject to.

“Our biggest contaminants are coming from incidents,” Hovenkamp said, noting the need to ensure that people aren’t working in close proximity to turnout gear. “We don’t have any breaks from our contaminated spaces to our uncontaminated spaces and we don’t want to have to subject our firefighters to it.”

The fire trucks take up a majority of the space inside the building, which has seen numerous additions built to try and meet the needs of the Barriere Fire Department. Still, the classroom training space isn’t large enough to hold all 19 current members that make up the fire service.

“It’s not just for aesthetics but we also do have a lot failing systems within the fire hall,” Hovenkamp added. “Everywhere from our plumbing and our piping and our electrical and our roof, its starting to get to the point where band-aid fixes aren’t working any more.”

Cramped interiors inside the current Barriere fire station (Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

(Image Credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today)

Barriere mayor Rob Kerslake said the district had hoped for grant funding to replace the fire station through the UBCM’s Strategic Priorities Fund, but the application was unsuccessful.

“Last year, we applied for the maximum $7 million,” Kerslake said. “That’s what a fire hall costs these days for a town our size. But [the grant] was oversubscribed. There were 242 applicants and only 54 awards. There simply was not enough funds.”

Kerslake is hoping a petition started by Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola MP Frank Caputo will lead to federal funding for this project, as he said the local tax base is too small to shoulder the costs for a new fire station.

“Our fire station has served us well but it’s time for a new one,” Kerslake added. “We’re storing equipment outside and that’s not good for equipment, but there is no way we can go ahead without support from the senior governments.”

Hovenkamp sympathized with the difficult situation that mayor and council are in owing to mounting needs across the district that have to be funded with the limited resources.

“We’re also certainly not the only municipality that needs a new fire hall or a wastewater treatment plant,” Hovenkamp said. “The cost is really high compared to the tax base for many small communities, and I think that’s what makes it harder when you don’t receive a grant because now you have to download that onto your tax base.”

Despite the setback, Hovenkamp is optimistic that Barriere firefighters will be in a new home in three years time, located a stone’s throw away from their current location on Barriere Town Road. The district plans to repurpose a portion of the old sewer plant to try and keep costs down.

“We’ve made a lot of really positive changes to what we can within the budget and within our restrictions but unfortunately with aging infrastructure, it’s deteriorating quicker than what we can keep up with,” Hovenkamp said.

by Victor Kaisar

District of Barriere eyeing federal help to replace outdated fire station

Our Community