The closure of the Beaver Lake emergency services station isn’t imminent, with two city council members joining forces in an attempt to prolong its life long enough to boost volunteerism.
Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit and Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée plan on tabling a motion for the June 25 city council meeting to keep the station open until at least September 2025.
Labbée also wants a firm timeline on when the Skead station will become operational.
“We’re going to ask some questions and we’re going to try and get to the bottom of it and find a happy medium compromise that makes sense for everybody,” Labbée told Sudbury.com, adding that their ultimate goal is “to restore the faith of the community, and also to not lose momentum for the volunteers they were able to recruit.”
Community advocates in Beaver Lake and Skead banded together earlier this week to hold a media event advocating for the Beaver Lake station to remain open and the Skead station to be afforded the equipment and apparatus needed for it to become a functional fire hall.
Both stations were originally slated for closure as part of a broader $164.6-million emergency services revitalization plan, until city council voted last year to keep both stations open.
The Beaver Lake station was to remain open “with a requirement to meet the average number of volunteers for all stations within one year,” which expires on June 27. Beaver Lake has two existing fire fighters, three recruits in training and two new recruit applicants., which is below 11, the average number of firefighters at volunteer stations, meaning the station is on a path toward closure.
Last year’s city council meeting also called for the Skead station to be repaired and for it to re-open “immediately.” It has since been repaired, but has not re-opened. It’s presently empty, and does not have the equipment and apparatus needed for it to function as a fire hall.
City Fire and Paramedic Services Chief Joseph Nicholls explained earlier this week that the station doesn’t have anyone trained to the level of captain yet. Since every call-out requires a captain to be present, they’re still serving the Skead area out of the Garson station.
“It’s been repaired, let’s figure out a timeline, give us the tools to be successful so we don’t lose any more volunteers,” Labbée said.
The motion to keep the Beaver Lake station open until at least September 2025 will be a reconsideration of last year’s resolution. Only members on the prevailing side of a motion can table a reconsideration. As such, Benoit, who joined city council a few months ago so is ineligible to table a reconsideration, worked with Labbée to table a motion for the June 25 meeting. As a reconsideration, it will require a two-third majority vote of city council to pass.
Benoit serves the Beaver Lake area on city council, while Labbée serves the Skead area.
“I have been in contact with the group from Beaver Lake and support the station staying open,” Benoit told Sudbury.com this week by emailed correspondence.
The tight one-year timeline to recruit at least nine new members to Beaver Lake “was basically setting them up to fail,” Labbée said, noting that it wasn’t until well into the year that city council voted to add two training officers to the department.
The hope is that by September 2025, the Beaver Lake station will hit the 11-member goal.
Further to extending the Beaver Lake station’s lifespan to September 2025 and seeking clarity on the Skead station’s reopening, Labbée said she’d like the city to develop a plan to bolster volunteer numbers across the board. The number of local volunteer firefighters has dropped in recent years, which follows a national trend in which fewer people have been signing up.
“We have a problem in volunteer recruitment numbers across the board in the majority of our outlying areas, and I want to unpack that,” Labbée said. “Let’s figure out a strategy to get those numbers up as well.”
Skead hasn’t had 11 volunteer firefighters since 2015, and Beaver Lake hasn’t had 11 since 2012. The volunteerism totals the city provided Sudbury.com go back to 2012, during which time neither department has achieved the 15 members required minimum by most insures for their respective catchment areas to be classified as “protected” by fire services for insurance purposes.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
