Skip to content

Keep the lines of communication open

It may be much ado about nothing.

It may be much ado about nothing.

Maybe it’s not a big story, as Westlock County seems to think, but the shuttering of Station 3 and the disbanding of the Westlock Rural Fire Department is definitely something the public should know about — see Page 1 of this week’s Westlock News for more.

Imagine a rumour was circulating in town and we didn’t do something to clarify what was actually going on. The rumour would spread to the point where people would be saying the town’s fire department is shutting down because of Rachel Notley, or some other ludicrous untruth.

County brass says the Station 3 fire hall, located in the municipality’s industrial park, is in such poor condition that it doesn’t make sense to bring it up to Occupational Health and Safety codes.

Seems like a fair explanation to us.

And we also understand it is only one of six stations operated by the county so we’re told that service times will not be affected.

Again, that makes total sense.

Plus, there’s the notion that maybe fire services could be a shared service between the town and the county at some point.

That sounds like it’s worth a shot, especially if it’s going to save money while keeping service levels the same.

So, why then did we have to hear about it from a whistleblower who provided us with a letter detailing the changes?

Maybe county administration considered it to be just a small piece of minutiae in their daily routine, not even worth discussing in public view.

But somebody was obviously upset enough to give us the letter. And without it we never would have known about the change because the issue was never discussed in public.

“It’s purely an operational issue, it’s not a strategic issue that council needs to be involved with,” explained Div. 4 Coun. Brian Coleman.

He’s right. But that’s not the point.

No one wants to see the pendulum swing back to where council is debating what kind of gravel should be spread, or which roads see work … we all vividly recall the recommendations from last year’s Municipal Inspection Report.

But when a fire hall is closed it’s time to issue a press release, or make a call to your friendly neighbourhood reporter to explain the decision.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks