MM Fire Committee to meetbi-monthly, SCBAs to be purchased

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Tara Gesner

EMC News - Fire service is most important in Mississippi Mills.

During last month's Finance, Administration & Policy Committee (FAPC) meeting, council carried a motion that the Fire Committee meets on a bi-monthly basis.

In the past, consistent with the municipality's procedural bylaw, the Fire Committee met at the call of the chair - Rick Minnille. Although no meetings took place in 2011, all matters pertaining to fire services were dealt with at committee-of-the-whole.

The town's Fire Committee is made up of five councillors (Duncan Abbott, Garry Dalgity, Denzil Ferguson, Alex Gillis and Minnille) as well as the mayor (John Levi), in addition to the fire chief (Art Brown) and deputy chief (Bob Machan) and one representative from each station (Almonte and Pakenham).

The first meeting in 2012 took place on Feb. 6, between sessions of council and recreation and culture.

A recommendation was approved for the chief to move forward with invitational tenders to MSA and Dräger for the purchase of 30 Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) units for the Mississippi Mills Fire Department.

The expense will be in the order of $175,000, and pre-budget approval was granted last month (Jan. 9) during council.

The units ensure firefighters have breathable air when entering dangerous environments.

A new standard for SCBAs is coming forward in 2013. The units will be going to 4,500 PSI. At present, the about 20-year-old packs used by firefighters in Mississippi Mills are 2,216 PSI.

Since the time of pre-budget approval, the chief arranged for different pack demonstrations. Brown, Machan and 20 firefighters attended the sessions.

"We tried packs from MSA, Dräger and Scott's," explained Brown.

After the presentations, the group met to review and rate each of the SCBA units based on ease of use, functionality and comfort.

They were scored using points," said Brown, "and it was unanimously agreed that MSA and Dräger were the best in all categories."

The remaining Fire Committee meetings will be held on April 5, June 7, Aug. 2, Oct. 4 and Dec. 6. Sessions begin at 6 p.m., and are held at either the Almonte or Pakenham fire hall (to be determined).

tgesner@perfprint.ca