By Phillip Maiani

Fire and Rescue Services

City of Lacombe signs mutual aid agreement with Town of Blackfalds

Mar 6, 2022 | 1:49 PM

The City of Lacombe will enter in a mutual aid agreement with the Town of Blackfalds regarding fire and rescue services between the two municipalities.

The motion was brought before Lacombe City Council last week where it was carried unanimously.

A mutual aid agreement is where the partnership members support each other when requested during emergency incidents.

Currently, the City has mutual aid agreements with the Lacombe County Mutual Aid Organization, the City of Red Deer, and the Lacombe Regional Emergency Management Partnership.

All of the neighbouring municipalities within Lacombe County have supported each other without a formal agreement since the Lacombe Regional Fire Services dissolved in 2015.

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“I think that speaks highly of the co-operative nature of those in the fire service. However, I do see value in having a formalized agreement between those organizations just as we have with Lacombe County,” said Mayor Grant Creasey.

The mutual aid agreement with the City of Red Deer is for emergency response services including fire, rescue, hazardous material emergency response, and emergency response to other mishaps and danger, including any other required resources. The 10 year agreement was signed in 2017.

Officials say the Lacombe Regional Emergency Management Partnership is similar to a mutual aid agreement except this partnership is specific to emergency management and is not intended for fire support services.

Another mutual aid agreement is with the Lacombe County Mutual Aid Organization (LCMAO). This organization includes the City of Lacombe, Lacombe County, Agrium, Alta Gas, Dow Chemical Canada, INEOS, Keyera Partnership, MEGlobal, Nova Chemicals, OES Corporation, Praxair Canada, and Procor.

Officials say LCMAO members help each other in emergency situations through providing personnel, advice, equipment, specialized tools, or services that may be required.

Meantime, councillor Chris Ross brought forth a motion that council direct administration to begin the process of site selection for the Fire Hall immediately, with a goal to identify a suitable site in 2022.

The motion, however, was defeated by a vote of 4-3 because most councillors believe it is not critical to speed up the process of identifying possible locations that administration has started.

“I haven’t been full convinced that we need to move this up to such an immediate need that it needs to be 2022,” explained councillor Thalia Hibbs.

Councillors Hibbs, Hoekstra, Dallas, and Konnik voted against the motion.