Paradise Fire Hall...Again

On Wednesday, another house burned to the ground in Paradise. While the conditions were severe - high winds and freezing temperatures - some still questioned the town's failure to provide adequate fire protection.

This has been a thorny issue in the town for some time. The mayor says we can’t afford it – much like we can’t afford an arena or pool – and insisted at one point that we have a plebiscite to see what town residents wanted to do. He has since backed off this ludicrous idea. I posted about it and referred it to as passing the buck. Some councillors simply would not take responsibility and make the decisions they were elected to do. They mayor said it would cost each household about $300 extra in taxes (give or take - depending on the price of your house) and that was a conservative estimate. Gee Ralph, how do you really want the vote to go? I wrote a letter to the Tely and it really got under Ralph’s skin. (I have that on good authority.) I'm told he called for the plebiscite with little, if any, debate in council chambers and with two councillors absent.

Below is a copy of the letter that pissed Wiseman off so much. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that during the last election campaign Wiseman promised full-time fire protection proving once again that it's difficult to believe anything this guy says.

Note: The letter references then Municipal Affairs Minister Diane Whalen who, as we know, unfortunately lost her battle with cancer late last year.

The issue of a fire hall in the town of Paradise has been a contentious one for many years. With all the other infrastructural and recreational needs such as water and sewer, adequate snow clearing, arena, pool and ensuring sufficient green space - among a litany of other problems - the need for our own, independently manned, 24/7 fire hall gets lost in the debate. Until there is a fire. Or an election.

This past June a home on Summit Drive was completely destroyed by fire. Fortunately, no one was injured but the twenty-minute response time was well above the four to five minutes fire fighters deem acceptable. Add to the fact, that the home was located in an unserviced area and you have a recipe for disaster. And the mayor’s statement that those homeowners should have expected this because they build on unserviceable, over-sized lots not only shows his ignorance but also his insensitivity to the family who lost everything and were fortunate to have escaped with their lives. Council, in its never-ending quest for the almighty tax dollar, are the ones who okayed the lots and allowed homes to be built on Summit Drive and other unserviced areas in town. So if a fire destroys a home, it is the homeowner’s fault?

And what about fires in the serviced areas of town? What good is a hydrant if you can’t attach a hose to it? If it takes twenty minutes or more for fire trucks from St. John’s, Mt. Pearl or CBS to reach a fire, property damage is may be the least of our worries. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when a life is lost.

And that begs the question why, in it’s haste to okay high-density subdivisions and in the process expand its tax base, didn’t the town council include a fire hall in their highly touted five-year strategic plan? While the plan is rich in generalities – full of hyperbole bordering on the sublime – it’s short on specifics. Among other things, the plan states that Paradise “does not want to be viewed as a series of large scale housing developments” – that’s one bell that can’t be unrung - yet the construction of a fire hall is not mentioned anywhere in the plan.

Paradise pays $550,000 a year for the fire protection it presently receives. But this may not be adequate considering the slow response times to some areas within the town. So where does this leave the council? A study has recently been commissioned to determine the most cost-effective method to improve fire services. A great idea if this was 1990. The problem is not new and another study will tell us what we already know – the need for improved service is essential but it’s cost prohibitive. How do you put a price on someone’s life?

One thing that has emerged from the debate on the fire hall is the blame placed by some veteran councillors on former mayor and current Minister of Municipal Affairs, Diane Whalen. Some blame her lack of foresight and inadequate planning for the problems that plague Paradise today. That’s a novel idea – bite the hand that feeds you. And I don’t recall the last time Minister Whalen okayed a 200 home subdivision off St. Thomas Line.

Governing, on any level, requires both a fiscal and moral responsibility. Our council can no longer give lip service to fire protection or put in at the bottom of its things to do list. Adequate fire protection is an essential and costly service, but using a fingers-crossed-hoping-for-the-best-approach is not responsible. Something for all of us to think about the next time we hear a siren in the distance .