Moncton Fire Department needs sixth fire station: report

A new report recommends Moncton establish a sixth fire station and hire more firefighters.

A new report suggests the Moncton Fire Department needs dozens of new staff members and a sixth fire station.

Emergency Management Group conducted the report and presented it to Moncton council at their regular meeting on Monday. The report analyzed all aspects of the fire department’s operations and considered its current and future needs.

In total, the report made 64 operational and strategic recommendations, including the implementation of a sixth fire station that would be staffed with two crews per shift and relief personnel for a total of 40 new firefighters.

In total, the report made 64 operational and strategic recommendations, including the implementation of a sixth fire station that would be staffed with two crews per shift and relief personnel for a total of 40 new firefighters.

According to the Moncton Fire Department’s website, it currently has 124 staff members led by Chief Conrad Landry. Its five stations are positioned on Botsford Street, Brandon Street, Caledonia Road, Hildegarde Drive and St. George Boulevard.

“The report contains a wide range of recommendations designed to enhance emergency response, improve infrastructure, and ensure our fire service continues to meet the growing demands of our community,” said Mélanie Cécyre, manager of communications and bilingual services with the City of Moncton, in an email. “This report represents an important step in shaping the future of public safety in the city.”

Other recommendations in the report include:

• increasing the administrative support position by one staff member
• adding the position of a division chief of fire prevention
• adding two fire prevention officer positions
• adding two training officer positions
• expanding information technology with a focus on fire prevention division-specific software
• looking at other sources of revenue from inspections and false alarms

Council voted unanimously to direct staff to provide feedback on the report by the end of September. Staff will also submit a 15-year implementation plan with the costs, advantages and disadvantages of each recommendation by the end of the year.

“As with all strategic initiatives, Council will review the recommendations in detail and determine the priorities that best align with the needs of our residents and the City’s long-term vision,” Cécyre said. “These priorities will be considered as part of upcoming budget deliberations.”

Fire chief reacts

“The recommendation is over the next 15 years is to hire up to 76 firefighters, We currently have 124 so that would bring us to 200,” said Chief Landry.

Landry said stations on Brandon Street and St. George are very old and need to be replaced, and the Botsford fire hall should be moved in 15 years to a more strategic place to reduce call times.

“Obviously the city has grown. The population has grown. About 10 years ago we had about 5,000 calls a year. This year we’re going to surpass 10,000. Doubling our call volume in 10 years is huge,” said Landry.

Landry said the complexity of calls has also changed dramatically.

“It’s the EV vehicles, it’s the high-rise, it’s the water rescues, it’s the hazmat calls, it’s all those complex calls we didn’t have 20 or 30 years ago,” said Landry.

Landry said the rough estimate for all the new hires and infrastructure would be around $200 million over a 15-year period.

“What’s going to happen in year one, and year two and year three,” he said. “We’ll present that to council in September and in late October and November it’s budget process so they’ll deliberate what they want to do for at least 2026.”

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