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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le W at er lo o C hr on ic le W | T hu rs da y, O ct ob er 14 ,2 02 1 | 16 Check out the answers on page 13 Like puzzles? Then you'll love sudoku. This mind-bending puzzle will have you hooked from the moment you square off,off,off so sharpen your pencil and put your sudoku savvy to the test! Here's's' How ItWorks: Sudoku puzzles are forforf matted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. ToToT solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must fill each row,w,w column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row,w,w column and box. YouYouY can figure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle! Cr oss wo rd & Su do ku CLUES ACROSS 1. Snaky curve 4. Lead actor 8. As well 12. Dove's cry 13. Contend (with) 14. Lived 15. Deli purchase 16. Great Barrier ____ 17. Speed competition 18. "Carmen," e.g. 20. Explodes 22. "____ Sawyer" 23. Riding whip 24. Hot and dry 26. Furnaces 30. Jamaican product 31. Sobbed 33. As of now 34. Bent down 36. TarifTarifT fariffarif 37. Flower receptacle 38. Favorite 39. Spicy sausage 42. Uprisings 45. Cattle stick 46. Large truck 49. Mine shipment 50. Skin affliction 51. WoodWoodW source 52. Monkey suit 53. Cast off,off,of as skin 54. Hourglass filler 55. Yo!Yo!Y CLUES dOWn 1. Repeat 2. Bath bar 3. At a future date 4. VamooseVamooseV 5. Foot end 6. Monkey's cousin 7. Hockey official 8. Sudden 9. Dancer's jump 10. Religious faction 11. Small numbers 19. Lightning ____ 21. Path 23. Scold 24. Flood boat 25. TrotTrotT 27. Upper canine 28. Accelerate in neutral 29. Swine home 31. Closemouthed person 32. WithstandsWithstandsW 35. AvoidedAvoidedA 36. Flower garland 38. Used a crowbar 39. Luxury hotels 40. Curve 41. Only 43. Factual 44. Alluring 47. Age of note 48. "Of Mice and ____" Level: Intermediate It's the right question to ask, and the right time to ask it. As the City of Kitchener moves forward with plans to build a new downtown fire station and hire 20 new firefighters, councillors asked pointed questions about how fire services are currently being delivered. For starters, let's recog- nize that the city has been a good steward of this partic- ular line item in the bud- get. As noted by Coun. Scott Davey, the number of fire- fighters in Kitchener has decreased over the past de- cade, even as the city's pop- ulation has increased. In Davey's view, this is evi- dence that council has been tough on the fire de- partment. "Our fire department is extremely efficient," Davey insists. "Now we're at a point where we have to hire more firefighters, and it's being staged over a num- ber of years and it's being done in a completely re- sponsible way that reflects the population growth we're seeing." Over the past 30 years, while the population of the city has increased by roughly 50 per cent, the number of Kitchener fire- fighters on duty at any one time has increased by only three per cent. Taking into account our increasing population, the increasing number of high- rises being built in the city, and the fact that the fire de- partment is meeting pro- vincial standards for re- sponse times on less than 60 per cent of its calls, add- ing staff and building a new station now is the prudent thing to do. And while council unanimously agreed to the proposal, it also addressed an important question, es- pecially as it pertains to the discussion in Waterloo Re- gion. While there were refer- ences in the meeting to "collaboration" and "part- nering" with other fire de- partments in the region, and questions of whether those relationships might mitigate the need for addi- tional firefighters to be hired in Kitchener, the idea of amalgamation was also injected directly into the conversation. The "A-word" is still ta- boo in many corners of this community, but if we de- tach it from the political landscape, amalgamation seems particularly rele- vant in the context of fire services. Our police service is a regional emergency ser- vice, as is our ambulance service. Further, our once individual transit systems are now delivered as one regional service, along with waste collection. Most recently, conversations have begun to possibly merge K-W and Waterloo North Hydro. Conversations around a regionally-operated fire service should not be off the table. The townships would certainly balk as they are now serviced by a comple- ment of volunteer fire de- partments that cost a frac- tion of what the full-time services cost the cities. But even that should not be a barrier to exploring the idea further. In fact, looking at cost alone is looking at the issue through too narrow a lens. We should also consider economies of scale, with ef- ficiencies in training and equipment purchasing that can lead to a leaner fire system overall. While there will un- doubtedly be conversa- tions around administra- tive overlap within the sys- tem, the motivation should be around better service to the community. If one police service and one ambulance service can adequately satisfy the needs of three cities and four townships, surely our fire service can do the same. Columnist Mike Far- well is a broadcaster, MC and advocate. Connect with him via Mike.Far- well@rci.rogers.com. AMALGAMATION OF LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS WORTH A LOOK OPINION IF 1 POLICE SERVICE AND 1 AMBULANCE SERVICE CAN SATISFY NEEDS OF 3 CITIES AND 4 TOWNSHIPS, SURELY OUR FIRE SERVICE CAN DO T HE SAME, WRITES MIKE FARWELL MIKE FARWELL Column THANK YOU FOR MAKING US YOUR TRUSTED SOURCE OF INFORMATION FIND UP-TO-DATE LOCAL COVID-19 NEWS ONLINE WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA/CORONAVIRUS