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Monday, 19 January 2015 at 06:19

Woodstock City Council overturned the previous council's decision to reduce the number of firefighters by 3.

WOODSTOCK - The new Woodstock City Council reversed the previous council's decision to reduce the number of firefighters by 3 through attrition.

Councillor Shawn Shapton put forth a motion to reinstate the total number of firefighters to 48 after one retired in 2014.

Shapton says it is important to maintain the number of emergency service workers; "it is going to be more important as we continue to grow, I really see no slow down for this city, so ensuring we have the proper amount of first responders is going to be paramount." Shapton added, "I think getting it back up there (number of firefighters) should be paramount...especially with the risks that surround us like the 401 and 403, trucks coming in and off of the highways..."

Council was unanimous in its decision to reinstate the number of firefighters to 48, which means the department will be hiring one more this year.

Tiered Agreement

Also on the table was revaluating the tiered first responder structure. Shapton said, "its simply going to be restablishing specific locations, for example shortness of breath which I believe should be brought back to the firefighters which is something they handled before."

Council is revisiting the tiered response structure. "We've asked the Fire Chief Scott Tegler to come forward with a report indicating which would be best to go back to the tiered agreement," said Shapton.

 

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