A special meeting will be held Monday over the problem.
By John Herbert The London Free Press
London board of control will tackle the issue of fire safety in the former town of Westminster at a special meeting Monday afternoon, Mayor Tom Gosnell said Friday.
The purpose of the meeting, he said, is to make sure there is adequate fire protection in the Lambeth area, which is currently served by volunteer firefighters.
The quality of fire safety became an issue this week after only two volunteers responded to an alarm at 8 Baynard St. in Lambeth.
London firefighters arrived within six minutes of the call, which turned out to be a false alarm.
But the incident drew attention to what appears to be a territorial battle between the full-time firefighters and volunteers over who should provide fire protection.
Ward 8 Councillor Ben Veel, former mayor of Westminster says: “This is not about the quality of fire protection.”
“That’s exactly what it is,” Ward 8 Councillor Ben Veel said Friday.
“This is not about the quality of fire protection,” said Veel, the former mayor of Westminster, who now represents residents of all the annexed area on city council.
London firefighters would like to see Fire Station No. 11 — the former Westminster fire hall, just south of Lambeth — staffed with full-time professionals.
Under the annexation agreement, volunteers currently staff the fire hall and respond to alarms. But, as a back-up measure, south London firefighters are also dispatched.
The city has two 4,500-litre (1,000-gallon) tankers to serve annexed areas such as the former Westminster, where there is no municipal water supply outside Lambeth.
One is located at Fire Station No. 11. Should there not be sufficient volunteers, there is a potential the tanker might not be immediately available in a fire.
The other tanker is at a fire station north of the University of Western Ontario — at the other end of the city.
Gosnell said the city eventually intends to make No. 11 a full-time station.
“The question is when,” he said. “I don’t know if we’re at that point. That’s what the (board of control) meeting is about.
Our responsibility is to provide good fire service.”
London Deputy Chief Bill Johnston said it’s only “hearsay” that there are differences between the volunteers and firefighters.
However, Veel and some volunteer firefighters said London firefighters apparently don’t consider the volunteers their equals, because they don’t have the same qualifications.
DISCOURAGED:
Veel said that the volunteers have been discouraged and their ranks have thinned.
“This has been going on since annexation and it’s unfortunate,” Veel said.
Leroy Poole, who heads up the volunteers, said “bad feelings” between the firefighters was not the problem when only two volunteer firefighters responded.
He said that because there are only about 22 volunteers — there used to be 37 at the time of annexation, he said — there are fewer people who can respond. He couldn’t explain why only two showed up.
“Maybe they were on the way and were told they weren’t needed,” he said.
Johnston said that was not the case.
Veel said the solution is to have a “fully manned volunteer department” with support staff from London.
But, he said, the firefighters’ association wants their people in Fire Station No. 11 because it would create about 40 more jobs.
If that’s the case, he said, it would cost the taxpayers $1.5 to $2 million a year.
