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6 . WAI LRLUU CHRONICLE . mummy. Septembel 5, Ill) *. ' Paul, The Handy Man d" . Electrical Repairs . Plumbing . General Repairs . Commercial . Lt. Industrial o Farm . Residential 47 years experience working on mechanical items Fully Insured email: handyttgolden.net web: www.handy-badenxa .5 "ttur Specialty ... Repairing the Broken.‘ a 519-577-0225 lt-ar, Continued from page I The fourth station -- to be built on the city's east side at University Avenue and Woolwich Street North - is being designed right now, and the hope is construction will begin in December. with the building ready for ocot- partcy in Lall2008. The consultant. mean- while, said there should be five fire stations in Waterloo to service the city adequate- ly. with the current Columbia Street station moving further north and a new fifth station being built on the southwest side. But deHooge said the crit- ical piece here is the oppor- tunity for the city to intro- duce residential sprinklers in any new developments, Developers are not man- dated to put sprinklers in new homes, but the best thing that could happen Sprinklers could save city some costs would be for them to realize their value and include them in the future west-end devel. opments. he said. T -karen Scian Waterloo an councillor "The hard part is that we still have many fire deaths and injuries because people either don't have smoke alarms, don't have them in the right place or dont main- tain them. "If everybody did, then smoke alarms would be the perfect solution," he said. to the city by implementing residential sprinkler systems, I think we're doing a smart thing. " “If we ca n avoid Ff-million costs Because they don't, sprin Hers are a good alternative. Another reason the can sultanl has pushed for resi- dential sprinklers is the money that could be saved --the city will not be required to move the Comm. bia Street station or build another one if the new homes on the west side are constructed with sprinklers. Typically. it costs about $4 million to construct a fire station. And to staff a new station - which would be the case with the fifth station _- it costs $2.5 million to $3 million in annual operating costs, dellooge said. Resi- dential sprinklers, however, cost between $4,000 to $5,000 per home. "So it's the cost of upgrad- ed flooring or a couple of appliances." he said. For Scian. these systems are a good way to address safety issues while keeping the bottom line in mind. "If we can avoid S4-rnil- lion costs to the city by implementing residential sprinkler systems. I think we're doing a smart thing." she said. "We've got to be smart and creative and intelligent and figure out how best to address the needs of Water- loo. And this to me is a n0- braincr." The consultants also drew attention to the city's Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) rating, which affects fire insurance rates in almost every dwelling other than single-family homes. Waterloo earned an aver- age Category 3 rating the last time the FUS was done more than 20 years ago. But the consultants' analysis shows the city is slipping towards a worse rat- ing of Category 4 because its fire services are not main- taining the appropriate response capability, which refers to types of equipment, response times and staff training among others. Waterloo's response times have been between six to seven minutes on average, which is higher than the tar- get goal of four minutes. "Consistently over this period (2003-2005), none of the stations are responding within the 'best practice' first response travel time of four minutes 90 per cent of the time," the consultants' report states And every minute counts because fires eventually mach a point of rapid accel» mation and the chance of a person surviving greatly decreases. "The bottom line is the sooner we get there the high- er the rate of survivability for people who are trapped in a home," deHooge said. For those who are con- cerned about the city's response time, the chief sug- gests people ensure they have enough working smoke alarms in their home, as well as an escape route, residen- tial sprinklers and window ladders. A l The consultants also sug- gested the city is not keeping pace with its public educa- tion and training, the Latter ofwhich is one ofthe corner- stones of a competent fire service, del iuoge said, There isn't a dedicated training officer to help devel- op programs, which is of particular concern because the new station will increase the city's fire services staffing population by 20 per cent, he The consultants' findings weren't all negative though. with their report to council stating Waterloo Fire Rescue is performing well in a num- ber of areas. including hav- ing more operational smoke alarms than its comparator municipalities. "One of the consultants" Comments, and one I would certainly support, is notwith- standing that we haven't done a Fire Master Plan in almost 20 years, the city has provided a good level of serv- ice and that's because part of the fire chief's responsibility is to be able to assess what the needs of the community are and make recommends lions And typically that's been done really well." deHooge said. tions located in appropriate places and in sufficient Coun. Mark Whaley agrees, and said deHooge has shown excellent leader- ship since he took over this position. "l have to say I am proud of his vision and foresight in keeping our fire service responsive and respected," he said. numbers to achieve safe cover- age for all citizens and businesses." The next step in the Fire Master Plan proceés is for deHooge to report to council later this month with his rec- ommendations. His experience with city council is they're "keenly aware" of what measures should be taken. "Council has recognized that the fire service is an essential service and integral part of public safety in the community," he said. Coun. lan McLean echoed his comment, saying public safety is the first con- cern for the city in terms of its fire services. roads. facili- ties, neighbourhoods and water. "As our community grows. we know that we need stations located in appropri- ate places and in sufficient numbers to achieve safe cow erage for all citizens and 'As our communi- ty grows we know that we need sta- __ lan McLean Waterloo rily councillor