Crews comfortable with new surroundings: Chief

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This article was published 09/09/2010 (5759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fire trucks and ambulances have been rolling in and out of Brandon’s new No.1 Firehall for a week now, and the city’s fire chief says the transition to their new North Hill location has been "smooth sailing."

"The biggest difficulty we’ve had is the guys getting oriented to the building," says Chief Brent Dane. "That (old building) is 100 years old and some guys have been there a long time, so now it’s just where do you go when the alarm goes off? But that’s more just an internal thing, with guys getting comfortable with their work zone."

The city’s old No.1 Firehall on Princess Avenue closed down last Thursday when the move of fire and emergency services, E-911 dispatch and police dispatch to their new $11-million home on the corner of 19th Street North and Maple Avenue was complete.

While there has been much public perception that placing the new hall just north of the railway overpass along a major commuter route will cause delays in response times, Dane said they’ve had "absolutely no problems" so far with traffic on 18th Street.

"This is likely a better location, especially when going west," he said. "We can get out of here and up to 18th and Rosser quicker than we could coming along Seventh and Rosser."

A log of all calls will be maintained over the next few months, Dane added, to ensure the right hall is being dispatched to a call, based on its location.

"We’ll do our monthly review, just to see our response times and to check where the call volumes are."

Brandon Fire and Paramedic Association president Terry Parlow says while he has yet to be dispatched to a call from the new location, he has heard nothing but positive comments from his membership.

"I think although it has been a long road and a lot of discussion about it, we’re very pleased that we have this new building and that we’ll be able to service the citizens of Brandon from this location from now on," Parlow said. "We’re very proud."

And while he knows that criticism of the fire hall location will likely not stop just because the ribbon has been snipped, Mayor Dave Burgess admits it’s a bit vindicating to know that the hall is operating A-OK.

"This was the right decision and it does make you feel good to see things operate just fine," he said, smiling. "It’s worked out well."