Osoyoos Fire Department Chief Rick Jones is expected to be handed the keys to the town’s impressive $6 million state-of-the-art fire hall sometime this week. Jones and his group of 30 volunteer firefighters will then spend a few days moving gear and equipment from their longtime home on Main Street adjacent to town hall into their new digs on 74th Avenue. The new fire hall will not only provide much more space and modern equipment, but also features a permanent training facility and emergency responder communications system. (Richard McGuire file photo)
A day Rick Jones admits he thought might never happen is expected to take place sometime this week when the Osoyoos Fire Department Chief is officially handed the keys to the town’s new $6-million fire hall.
After several weeks of final touchups by workers with Greyback Construction – the main contractor hired to build the new fire hall – and several sub-contractors, Jones and his crew of about 30 volunteer firefighters are expected to officially move into their new digs this week.
“I’ve heard that (getting the keys) for about two months now and some of my good friends are calling me Liar Rick … but it does look like we’ll be moving in (this week),” said Jones, who has been involved with the Osoyoos Fire Department for 35 years, including the last 10 as Fire Chief.
As last Monday’s regular meeting of Town of Osoyoos council, chief administrative officer Barry Romanko, told Mayor Sue McKortoff and members of council that a few minor projects were being completed and he expected a provincial building inspector to give final approval and hand the keys over to Jones some time this week.
Construction on the fire hall began last November and will be finished on budget and has run rather smoothly considering the size and scope of the project, said Romanko.
The town held a public referendum about borrowing just under $6 million to pay for the new fire hall as part of the November, 2014 municipal election. Local taxpayers voted more than 60 per cent in favour of borrowing the money.
The Osoyoos Fire Department has been operating out of its current home in cramped quarters adjacent to town hall for the entire 35 years he has been involved with the organization, said Jones.
He and his crew of volunteer firefighters are very anxious knowing they will soon be operating out of a state-of-the-art facility, said Jones.
“Yeah we are very excited about it,” said Jones. “Our crew is totally ramped up about it and a few of the guys are already talking about holding our annual Christmas party in the new building.”
He’s not surprised there have been a couple of delays in completing the project.
“We all understand that it’s not unusual to have a few delays when wrapping up a large project of this size,” he said. “What you don’t want to do is move into the new building and then have construction crews still having to come in to finish up.
“It’s one of those things where you have to show a little patience knowing things have dragged on a little longer than you might have hoped for. But we’re only days away from moving in to a facility that’s going to be around for at least the next 60 years to serve the community.”
With Christmas just around the corner, Jones said he doesn’t foresee any official ceremony taking place, but he does hope to set aside a day or two before Christmas to allow members of the public to take a tour of the facility.
“I would like to be able to offer an open house to the public (before Christmas),” he said. “I know a lot of people in town really want to get a look at it and we do hope to have a day or two for a walk through of the facility for the public.”
It will be so nice to have proper room and space to run a modern volunteer fire department, said Jones.
“We’ve been used to having to back our trucks up within inches of each other for more than 35 years,” he said. “Having 15 feet between trucks is going to take some getting used to, but it’s going to be very nice.”
A lot of old equipment and material that has been sitting in storage at the old fire hall is going to be discarded before the move into the new hall is completed in the next few days, he said.
Not only are the volunteer members looking forward to moving into a state-of-the-art facility, but they are also looking forward to access the new training facility and modern telecommunications equipment that are part of the new fire hall, said Jones.
Once the keys are turned over, all the equipment is moved and volunteers have had the chance to test everything and work out of the new hall for several days, Jones said he will make a public announcement about which days will be scheduled for the public open house.
Moving into the impressive new building is going to allow the current group of volunteers to engage in better training and will also help new volunteer recruits, said Jones.
Jones, who was a leading voice in pushing for a new fire hall to be built in Osoyoos, said he’s very proud of the work done by his volunteer department over the past three decades and he has every confidence the level of service to the community is only going to improve as a result of moving into the new building.
The fact this project was completed on budget is a testament to the hard work put in by town staff as well as Greyback Construction crews and the many sub-contractors that worked on this project over the past calendar year, said Jones.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
