by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — Whitewater Region`s Mayor Hal Johnson was certainly not happy that Foresters Falls was without a fire truck for three weeks, nor was he happy no one on council was informed of this prior to it being mentioned at a council meeting last month. He also wasn’t happy the fire truck wasn’t ready for service.
During last night’s public works committee meeting, Mayor Johnson questioned why these things happened and wanted to know why the truck was taken out of service when it passed its safety test.
While Deputy-Fire Chief Mike Moore attempted to answer the question, Mayor Johnson continued to interject that what he was hearing wasn’t what he had been told.
The discussion began with public works manager Bill Misener, who’s in charge of the township’s fleet, which includes fire trucks, said the fire truck didn’t pass the pump test, and while it was being tested, it caught fire.
Mayor Johnson questioned why a claim wasn’t put through the insurance company so the truck could be repaired and put back into service.
Mr. Misener tried to explain that it wasn’t bad enough to put through the insurance, and Mayor Johnson again questioned why it was then taken out of service.
“It was taken out of service three weeks before the pump test,” Mayor Johnson said. “I just want to know why?
“It’s a simple answer.”
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said there was a letter with 21 concerns regarding the truck from the fire captain, which he hadn’t received when the verbal concerns were first brought forward. While the truck had passed safety, he opted to take the truck out of service since the captain had, what he considered safety concerns, and wanted to ensure the safety of the firefighters and the township from any liability.
Mayor Johnson still wasn’t happy. He said they were defects, not concerns, and he wanted a further understanding of how the decision came to be there was no fire truck in Foresters Falls to cover that area in case of fire.
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said, “People higher than me knew about it.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead questioned what the difference is between a defect and a safety concern.
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said, “I thought the defects were a safety concern.”
Mayor Johnson said, “I disagree.”
He explained that a safety concern would be bad brakes or a break in the brake line or items that will cause the truck to fail and have an accident. Defects would be a hose not strapped down properly, or a light shaking or a ladder tied on with a bungee chord.
Coun. Olmstead said, “I’m really confused how you would know what these defects are if you didn’t have a list.”
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said he didn’t know what the defects were, just that he heard there were concerns.
Councillor Charlene Jackson said even with the truck just passing a safety and not knowing the concerns, the truck was taken out of service.
“It was the unknown,” Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said. “I thought I was protecting the township.”
Mayor Johnson said, “I disagree.”
Coun. Olmstead said, “So, to be very blunt about it, it sounds like a couple of guys having a pissing match between them and it was he said, she said, so it just goes on for the next three hours.
“The 21 issues, did they happen all in one week and became 21 issues then, or over the course of five or 10 years, or why weren’t they brought forward when they were an issue back then. Why weren’t they brought forward five or 10 years ago.”
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said when they finally saw the list of concerns, some of them dated back to the manufacturing, which was in 1990.
The truck was saftied every year and passed, he added.
Mayor Johnson questioned why the truck was taken out of service when these concerns date back that far.
“Why was it taken out of service if these were things that were known,” he asked. “If we didn’t know, why did we take it out of service when it passed its safety?
“That’s my biggest concern.”
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said, “My biggest concern at the time was the safety of the operator and the safety of the township.”
Explaining, he said it doesn’t matter if it passed its safety, these were issues brought forward that he felt determined the truck should be taken out of service.
Following a few minutes of back and forth between the deputy-fire chief and mayor, Deputy-Chief Moore asked, “So what do you want me to say?”
Mayor Johnson said, “I want to know why we did without a fire truck for so long, and why we aren’t getting at it.”
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said, “That’s a different question.”
Hoping to understand the issue, Coun. Olmstead said so the person in charge of the truck reports to Deputy-Fire Chief Moore that there are issues but not what they are.
Deputy-Chief Moore agrees, but noted there was no request for the truck to be taken out of service.
However, Coun. Olmstead said, “To me Mayor, if the captain that’s responsible for the truck tells me that there’s 21 issues with the truck, whether I’m a mechanic or not, I’d be inclined to do the same thing. I want to see what those 21 issues are. That’s the guy responsible for the truck, that’s the guy responsible for his men.
“I would have done the same thing. I’d want the truck taken back in (for service).”
Councillor Cathy Regier questioned why the Foresters Falls truck was not put back in service, and why the Westmeath truck was taken out of the “bone yard” to be fixed.
She questioned the amount of time and money spent on the Westmeath truck wasn’t spent instead on the Foresters Falls fire truck.
Deputy-Fire Chief Moore said on June 30 a fire truck was put into the Foresters Falls fire hall after three weeks of there being no truck there at all.
The former Westmeath truck is sitting in Haley Station and the tanker from Haley Station was moved to Foresters Falls, he said.
Chief Wayne Heubner, who had been sitting quietly during the questioning, took to the microphone.
There were 21 issues identified in a report that was sent to all council members, he said. The 21 concerns were enough for the two to make a joint decision to pull the Foresters Falls fire truck out of service, the chief said.
These concerns were “over and above” once the safety was completed, and for the safety of the fire fighters, the decision was to take the truck out of service, he said.
“Had we put the truck on the road and someone got seriously hurt, it was my responsibility.
“So, I agreed with Deputy-Fire Chief Moore, pull the truck out of service,” Chief Heubner said.
The township mechanic reviewed the concerns and there were six serious ones, he said.
When they went to fix them, the hose blew, there was a service fire, and there’s still discussion on trying to figure out the best way to fix the the truck, he added.
Mayor Johnson said, “The reason I’m bringing this up, because I consider this, on behalf of myself as mayor, that this is an extraordinary issue that’s gone on for two months, and that to me is unacceptable.
“So, we need to move on it, we have to make a move on it. Somewhere along the line we’ve got get this thing back in shape.
“Whatever it takes to get it going, I think as we go through it, and I mean it’s everybody, we really need to work on our communication and council has to know this stuff.
“This is a serious, serious, serious problem in my opinion,” he said.
There was more discussion regarding the Foresters Falls and Westmeath fire trucks, but at times, some council members weren’t sure which truck was being discussed.
Mayor Johnson said a pumper has to get back into action.
Mr. Misener said neither the Foresters Falls or Westmeath trucks will pass a pump test. However, Mayor Johnson suggested there be a way of down-grading the pump so it can pass a test.
“We have to get one going and we are not going to buy a new one,” he said.
Mayor Johnson said reports have to be brought to council’s attention.
Coun. Jackson suggested the Foresters Falls truck be shipped out for another mechanic to check it over.
If the trucks cannot be put back into service, a new one will have to be purchased, she noted.
Reeve Terry Millar thanked the fire department.
“This obviously got a little hot in here,” he said. “I want to say thank you to the fire department. There is another side to this and Chief Heubner has informed us all that at no time was our township at risk. He had taken some of that into consideration.
“We should all take a little bit of that into consideration. These things can happen sometimes and we can work them out peaceably.”
The committee agreed, and it was later agreed at the council meeting held afterwards, that an outside source do an assessment of the Foresters Falls fire truck and what it will need to get back into service.
Mayor Johnson added, “If we choose to go ahead with the repairs, we use an independent source to fix the pump.”
Mayor Johnson apologized for being “awfully rough, but this is very, very serious to me.”
Coun. Jackson said as soon as the results are ready, a special council meeting be held to deal with this issue.
Mayor Johnson added that the fire department would be greatly served if an old fire truck could be kept in working condition once a new fire truck is purchased. This would allow the fire department to be prepared if a fire truck had to go out of service for whatever reason.
Chief Heubner said, “I’ve said that the last couple of years.”
