Osoyoos Fire Hall (File photo)
By Vanessa Broadbent
Osoyoos Times
In an effort to engage the community, the Osoyoos Fire Department launched its first ever public survey, open from Oct. 10 to 31.
With help from an outside consultant, an internal survey was completed and now the department is incorporating the community’s feedback as well, fire chief Dave McMahon said.
“Rather than it just being the fire chief’s opinion or listening to the historical events that have gone on here and guessing where we’re at, I want to gather facts to see where we’re at.”
Questions touch on perceptions of the fire department and its performance, different values it represents, and expectations of services.
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“People have moved here from maybe the Lower Mainland or Calgary and they just assume that the fire department is the same as what they left and it’s not the case,” McMahon said.
Once the survey closes and results are collected, responses will be cross referenced with findings from the internal survey.
“Then we’ll look at where the key areas are, where the commonalities are, and use the data to inform our way forward,” McMahon said.
“Maybe it comes back and people are completely uninformed or if they are informed and they do understand where we’re at, celebrate that but don’t take the foot off the gas, we need to keep engaging the community.”
The survey can be completed online at surveymonkey.com/r/osoyoos-fire-department or on paper, available at Osoyoos Town Hall or the Sonora Community Centre.
