A show of solidarity from Yarmouth firefighters at last night’s Yarmouth town council meeting.
They wanted to show their displeasure over the town’s decision to eliminate four dispatch jobs at the Yarmouth department.
Over 100 volunteer firefighters from departments all over the Tri-Counties were in attendance, along with about a dozen fire trucks parked outside.
Firefighters from all over Yarmouth County converge on Yarmouth Town Hall ahead of a town council meeting. They are standing in solidarity in the wake of the loss of four dispatch jobs at the Yarmouth department. pic.twitter.com/cNVkW1TPdk
— Y95 – CJLS (@CJLSRadio) May 17, 2018
During a presentation, President of the Yarmouth Volunteer Fire Department Jason George told council that every minute counts when responding to an emergency.
“It only takes nine to 17 minutes for a modern house to go up in flames. What’s it going to take to keep this vital service in place?”
The firefighters are concerned that contracting the service out would mean the level of local service would suffer.
Chief of the Lake Vaughan Volunteer Fire Department George Emin told council that the town is not charged for mutual aid from neighbouring fire departments.
Emin says his department and others thought about their options, including billing the town or stopping service in town altogether.
“Everybody decided in the end, that the only ones that would lose is the public, and the safety of the Yarmouth firefighters would be affected. So we decided, no change. You’ll still get assistance from our department.”
He says he’s hopeful the town won’t contract out this vital service.
Mayor Pam Mood says council will take everything into consideration.
She says a request for proposals has not yet been issued.
“I know the CAO’s got together, and they’re talking. The municipal units are talking, and that’s all I can say. We can’t say what will come of these conversations, not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t know what the answers are yet.”
Mood says it was a great show of support from firefighters.
She says nothing has been decided, but the funding model of service can’t look the way that it does right now.
