A proposal has been discussed to establish a mutual agreement for fire services between the Regional District of Nanaimo and the City of Port Alberni.
If approved by the RDN board, it would mean the Coombs-Hilliers Volunteer Fire Department will help during emergency situations outside its jurisdiction.
The proposal stemmed from 2023 Cameron Bluffs wildfire, which impacted transportation on the Highway 4 corridor to Port Alberni and the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Since then, there have been a variety of events that have led to the closure of the highway at a variety of locations. Most recently was the windstorm in November 2024, which forced Highway 4 to be closed due to several large trees blocking the highway.
The number of incidents have revealed a gap in fire protection for a small area of the Coombs Hilliers Fire Protection Area near Chalet Road as well as the Provincial Road Rescue Area to which the fire department responds to.
Steve Windsor, RDN manager fire services, informed the Electoral Area Services Committee during their meeting on March 6, discussions were held involving RDN staff, Port Alberni and Town of Qualicum Beach.
"This resulted in two agreements," said Steve Windsor. "One is between Qualicum Beach and Port Alberni with a mutual aid agreement, and the one that we're proposing for the board's consideration today. It is not an automatic aid, as we see in Area 69, where trucks are automatically responded for fires or auto accidents."
Windsor explained the mutual aid agreement will only be enforced when the incident commander has determined there is a specific need for additional assistance or resources. They would not be automatically paged or dispatched without a department specifically requesting mutual aid.
"It is infrequently we would use this agreement but it is really an insurance policy," Windsor explained "It's unlikely it would cost us any money. There is a recovery of up to $5,000 but it is very exceptional cases where either department would actually be claiming that. That would be for damaged equipment.
The agreement allows for mutual aid support to areas of the Coombs Hilliers Fire Protection Area that may be inaccessible during emergency incidents which block the highway, not limited to inclement weather events and motor vehicle accidents. As well, it will allow additional resources during a substantial emergency incident or incidents which may require more resources outside of those existing resources on the eastern side of the Port Alberni summit.
Electoral Area F (Coombs, Hilliers, Errington, Whiskey Creek, Meadowood) director Leanne Salter did not understand the rationale behind the proposal because the highway between Coombs-Hilliers and Port Alberni is Mosaic and provincial and does not have any homes.
"I am not really understanding this," said Salter. "I am not understanding the need for this and in addition to that, if that road was locked down, then there's gates across the road that are managed by the province. So, I am not sure how this is going to work with either Coombs or Port Alberni getting through those gates when they're locked down. And I didn't hear you having a conversation with the province."
Salter also commented in the past, accidents along this stretch of the highway have been dealt with no issues or problems.
Windsor explained the intent fo the agreement is not to fight bush fires but more on dealing with vehicular accidents that require extrication.
"We do respond into those areas, Cathederal Grove and in those areas there," said Windsor. "What the intent of the agreement is, say that we have a landslide. We have a large wind event where there's maybe accidents in that area but we're not able to get through them. So, we would request, hopefully, Port Alberni could get to them or vice-versa that we could respond if it was beyond our normal boundary that the province sets for us."
Salter made a motion to defer the agreement until more information is available as she doesn't see anything different from what is happening now.
The EASC voted in favour of the motion.
