New Fire Hall Now Serving the Community

Photo Karen Graham.
This is an inside view of the bays inside the new Fire Hall. It can house two paramedic vehicles in the south bay and eight Fire Vehicles in the other five bays. The facility has been operational for a few weeks and will host an Open House in early March.

It has been a long wait, but the much-anticipated new Fire Hall is now operational.

There are still boxes to unpack and some final touches to complete, but ambulances and fire trucks are now responding to calls for service from this new facility, which replaces the facility on King Street that has been serving the area for decades.

The new facility has many new features, but one of its biggest attributes is space. The Fire Hall facility in Millbrook was built to accommodate two fire vehicles, but has been housing a fleet of four for many years as rising calls for service meant we needed more equipment.  Physical restrictions inside the building meant that vehicle maintenance was usually performed outside.  There is plenty of space in the new bays, which can accommodate eight fire vehicles.

The south section of the building is home to a new paramedic base, which includes an administrative area and bay which can hold two paramedic vehicles.  This operation is a satellite base for Peterborough County-City Paramedics (PCCP), which provides emergency medical care. This service is funded by the County of Peterborough, City of Peterborough and the Province of Ontario through the Ministry of Health.  This base was established under a tenant agreement governed by a 20-year lease agreement.  These payments will help offset a portion of the capital outlay and the operating costs of the facility, which is owned by Cavan Monaghan Township.

Chief Balfour is delighted to share the facility with the paramedics, and is beginning to see some benefits of having the paramedic base inside the new Fire Hall.   Firefighters and Paramedics often find themselves responding to the same emergencies.  Working in the same building is establishing better communications between the emergency service personnel which Chief Balfour expects will translate into quicker and more efficient response.

Chief Balfour is also very pleased with the safety features incorporated into the new facility.  Fire suppression activities can pose significant risk to emergency personnel if not properly managed.  Safety features in the new facility include scrubbers on the ceiling in the vehicle bays that help remove contaminants in the air.  These units are activated by the opening of the garage doors, which automatically boosts their cleaning power when fire trucks return from an emergency.   There is also a segregated area to store Firefighter protective wear to protect it from contamination.

The building also houses a training room and communications network which can reroute calls for service directly to the facility if an emergency shuts down the main system in Peterborough.

Photo Karen Graham.
The new fire hall.

The opening of this new facility at this time would not have been possible without the support of  Mario Cortellucci, who is developing the Towerhill North subdivision behind the Fire Hall building.

Director of Public Works Wayne Hancock acknowledges Mario Cortelluci’s help, saying, “We would like to thank Mr. Cortelluci for the approved construction schedule and completion of construction work that provided all underground services including watermain servicing, sanitary servicing and storm sewer servicing for our Fire Hall site. In addition, we would like to thank him for the construction schedule and completion of construction of Highlands Boulevard itself to base asphalt, which provides for the main entrance to the Fire Hall Site. Without this Development proceeding we would not be in the position we are of occupying this new building.

The official opening of the facility is scheduled for March.  KG

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