REQUEST FOR DECISION
DATE: June 19, 2023 Report No. FIRE-23-003
TO: Dan Horan, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Steve Serbic, Fire Chief
SUBJECT:
Title
Reciprocal Fire Services Mutual and Automatic Aid Agreement with the Township of Esquimalt, the District of Saanich, the City of Victoria, and the District of Oak BayEnd
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
That Council approve the Township's participation in the Amended Reciprocal Fire Services Mutual and Automatic Aid Agreement between the Township of Esquimalt, District of Saanich, City of Victoria, and District of Oak Bay and authorize the Mayor and Corporate Officer to sign the agreement for a term of five years, commencing on the effective dates, which shall renew automatically for further one year terms.
Body
RELEVANT POLICY:
Mutual Aid Agreements - Town of View Royal, City of Langford, City of Colwood
Mutual and Automatic Aid Agreement with CFB Esquimalt
Community Charter: Part 3, Division 1, Section 23 (Agreements with other public authorities)
Fire Services Act of British Columbia, RSBC 1996, Chapter 144
STRATEGIC RELEVANCE:
Mutual Aid and Automatic Aid Agreements are supported by the Township to promote opportunities to share services and to continue to build strong relationships and partnerships.
BACKGROUND:
Mutual aid agreements are essential tools that enable fire departments to provide aid to one another when circumstances warrant. They permit departments to share resources and specialty services (like technical high angle and confined space rescue) and enable them to obtain critical support for major incidents or other situations where a department's resources are overwhelmed by events.
Automatic aid agreements are a variant of mutual aid, under which the participating departments agree that they will be automatically dispatched to assist neighbouring departments. The principal benefit of automatic aid agreements is that they minimize the delay before additional resources b...
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