Huron East Council votes for new fire hall, EMS building in Seaforth

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

At its June 23 meeting, Huron East Council voted to move ahead with the construction of a new fire hall and emergency medical services (EMS) building in Seaforth with the participation of Huron County for the EMS portion, assuming the approval of Huron County Council.

 

Council discussed the issue based on a report prepared by Chief Administrative Officer Jessica Rudy, who said that council needed to provide direction for the Seaforth Fire Hall one way or another. She noted that, after council turned down a costly proposal for a joint fire hall, public works building and EMS base in Seaforth, directing staff to make repairs at the existing building as needed, staff continued investigating the possibility of a joint fire hall and EMS station. However, at the June 23 meeting, she noted that staff had reached the point that members could make no further repairs without expanding the budget significantly, which would require council’s approval.

 

“Council was exploring a combined facility that would contain fire, EMS and public works, after the preliminary proposal and facility tours, staff were directed to reconsider the facility, with removal of the public works portion,” Rudy said in her report. “The Seaforth fire station has undergone some minor repairs/renovations in order to keep it operational, however, major capital spending is being avoided until further direction is provided by council on a new facility. 

 

“At the time of writing this report, the County of Huron Emergency Medical Services Department is still interested in moving their operations to Seaforth and exploring a combined facility and will present a similar report to County Council.”

 

She also noted that, in the municipality’s fire master plan, a point of direction is to begin the budget process and planning for the replacement of the Seaforth fire station, while in its corporate strategic plan, the municipality directed staff to investigate additional opportunities to share resources with the County of Huron and/or neighbouring municipalities, saying moving forward with the county on a new building would meet both of those recommendations.

 

The proposed facility will be a post-disaster recovery build that meets all of the current standards as a fire hall and emergency facility. On the fire side, there would be three double bay drive-through doors, a separate room for SCBA with a filling station, two unisex washrooms, a gear room accessible from the exterior, a laundry room with decontamination equipment, an open mezzanine, offices and a dedicated kitchen and meeting room. For EMS purposes, there would be four triple drive-through bays, separated oxygen and utility rooms, dedicated storage and locker rooms, a universal washroom with a shower and a dedicated lunch and lounge area, in addition to office space. The main entrance and large training room would be shared space.

 

In her report, Rudy said that the updated plan for a new building is estimated to have a total cost of $7 million, with Huron East assuming approximately $3.65 million of that, just over half of the total cost. She also noted that the proposed cost does not include the acquisition of new land, but that the current fire hall site on Birch Street has an estimated value of $600,000.

 

Council approved moving forward with the county with little more discussion.