The Regional District of Nanaimo is standardizing its fire services.
The RDN is nearing completion of creating a standardized operational guidelines for its six fire halls. The project is one of the recommendations from the fire services review, conducted in 2016.
Consultants Tim Pley and Associates were hired to provide a general overview of the project, with input from the different fire departments. They compiled more than 340 operational guidelines, collected from each fire departments. More than 60 guidelines were completed and sent back to fire chiefs for further comment.
The project was supposed to be completed last month but was delayed due to the wildfire season.
The RDN is also working on establishing a conceptual fire hall design to be applied to all future halls. Dashwood Fire Hall is being used as a template for this project, awarded to Zeidler Architecture.
A design suitable for the project has been created and was presented to the Dashwood Society Board and Dashwood fire chief and was shared with Errington, Coombs-Hilliers and Bow Horn Bay fire chiefs.
A complete conceptual drawings and 3D modelling will be presented to the Dashwood board in October. The drawings will be presented at informational open houses in April and May.
The RDN is also creating a template for standard fire apparatus for use in future purchases. A committee was formed consisting of representatives from the fire departments and the fire service co-ordinator.
A report is expected to be completed in early 2019.