Consolidation of Nackawic, Millville fire halls will impact response times: fire chief

A fire rages at the town council chambers and the fire hall in Millville, N.B., Monday, July 28, 2014. (Jeff Mills / MyNews)

Almost a year after two fire halls were destroyed by fire in rural New Brunswick, local residents say they are still waiting for the structures to be rebuilt.

The Nackawic Fire Hall was destroyed on July 21, 2014 when a drunk driver smashed into the building, sparking a fire.

A week later, the Millville Fire Hall and town council chambers were destroyed in a case of suspected arson.

The communities hoped the buildings would have been rebuilt by now, but there’s a possibility neither will be.

Instead, there is talk of merging the fire halls into one, with the building located between the communities, but Millville Fire Chief Justin McGuigan has some concerns about that.

He says the idea of consolidating the fire halls will affect response times to both communities, not to mention the larger surrounding area, even if there were sub-stations in both Millville and Nackawic.

“So that’s at least 20 minutes added to each call, so response times are paramount in our industry,” says McGuigan.

Millville Mayor Bev Forbes agrees.

“For our firefighters and Nackawic’s to get to the hall to get the equipment, a fire would be long gone,” says Forbes.

Both communities were anxious to start construction shortly after the fires last July and Forbes says they were told they could, but were then told to halt plans.

“We really wanted to start last fall. That was our prerogative,” says Forbes. “Proceed to tell us we couldn’t do that, then January they said go ahead, and then stop again.”

The provincial government confirms a study is now underway, weighing fire coverage against the rate of taxation. Results from the study will determine whether the fire halls will be consolidated.

The province says communities funding their own fire halls are free to go ahead with whichever structure they choose, but the communities of Millville and Nackawic say they can’t afford to proceed without government backing.

“We’d have to have some funding that’s for sure,” says Forbes.

A decision is expected next month.