The Anarchist Mountain Fire Department is one of seven rural fire departments in the South Okanagan operating under a new bylaw with the regional district. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

Seven rural fire departments in the South Okanagan have made compromises, but are moving forward under a new operational bylaw with the regional district.

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen struck a deal with the fire chiefs  standardizing operations and reporting to the regional district CAO.

“The fire departments didn’t get everything they wanted, nor did the regional district. So we worked together to come up with a bylaw that worked,” said Kaleden Fire Chief Denis Gaudry, president of the South Okanagan Similkameen Fire Chiefs Association (SOSFCA)

The new bylaw comes after about a year of back-and-forth between the RDOS and fire departments in Anarchist Mountain, Willowbrook, Tulameen, Okanagan Falls, Naramata, Kaleden and Keremeos.

The fire chiefs’ association was formed last year in an effort towards efficient negotiations and operational and training collaboration between departments.

“It gives us a better opportunity as a group to make representation to the regional district, the provincial ministries, those type of things,” Gaudry said.

The fire departments have also signed on to a consistent, province-wide training platform out of the Vancouver Island Emergency Response Academy.

“Hopefully, and I think it will come to pass, that we will work better as a group now,” Gaudry said.

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The fire chiefs rejected a previous bylaw put forward to the regional district last year, which left the RDOS with an older operational standard from 1995 to work under. The older bylaw put seven fire chiefs under the direction of 19 different area directors.

“It made for a very difficult setting because any request or requirement had to come to the board as a whole, and we meet twice a month, so it causes some delays” said Karla Kozakevich, RDOS board chair. “It also put municipal directors into that responsibility of oversight of seven rural fire departments that they actually aren’t involved in.”

Four Penticton directors had direct oversight over rural fire departments well outside of their purview.

Several talks over months between the RDOS and the fire chiefs’ association resulted in the new bylaw which also has the regional district looking to hire a protective services coordinator. Right now, the rural departments will report to CAO for the regional district, Bill Newell, as well as the future emergency services coordinator.

“We came up with something that was deemed the best fit from the fire chiefs’ perspective and the politicians and staff perspective we feel it is a nice compromise,” Kozakevich said.

The new bylaw features more stipulations for consultations with fire chiefs relating to training, purchases and hiring.

“So I think we have reached something that will really work well for everyone involved,” Kozakevich said. “As I said to the board, this is so much better than what we have been operating under for the past year. If you find something isn’t working then we always have an opportunity to amend the new bylaw.”