Since 2023, the City of Fernie has been working with a consultant to advance the pre-planning work for an urgently needed new Fire Hall to house the City’s Fire and Emergency Services Department. On Tuesday September 10, Council received the Final Planning Report from the City’s consultant on the Fire Hall Project and determined to move the project forward based on the recommendations in the report.

In January, an extensive engagement process and technical analysis of potential properties wrapped up with the selection of 1500 5^th Ave (a portion of Prentice Park) as the site for the new Fire Hall.

Over the past months, the project team has worked alongside our consultants to refine the scope of the project, determine the requirements of a needs-based fire hall, and ensure that the conceptual design for the new facility is as cost-effective as possible while still meeting the needs of our Fire and Emergency Services department.

Based on urgent timelines for a new purpose-built fire hall, initial cost estimates, and a lack of available funding streams, Council provided updated direction to staff to prioritize building the Fire Hall first, while still providing space for a future co-use facility phased onto the site.

The report includes:

1. A conceptual design for the new Fire Hall that captures all the functional requirements of the new facility to meet legislated and operational requirements of FFESD.
2. A phased approach that prioritizes building the urgently needed Fire Hall first, while leaving room on the site to accommodate a future self-funded co-use building.
3. A Class-D cost estimate that provides high-level costing for the recommended needs-based Fire Hall built to the legislated post-disaster standards with all the spatial requirements for the City’s emergency response.
4. Funding options and considerations to help offset borrowing costs and finance this critically important new facility.

Read the full report here: https://fernie.civicweb.net/document/176598, and watch the presentation to Council at the Regular Meeting of Council online via Facebook.

Project Recap:

Why a New Fire Hall?

In 2022 our old fire hall on 3^rd Ave., was decommissioned due to significant structural and operational issues with the facility that made it no longer appropriate to operate as a Fire Hall.

In summer 2023, a new project was initiated to advance a purpose-built Fire Hall for FFESD to be operational in 2026. This included a renewed approach to consider all possible City-owned locations, and an Expression of Interest to identify any privately owned properties or potential co-use partners to share the capital costs of the Fire Hall Build.

Should the City not advance the Fire Hall project there are significant costs and implications on service delivery and emergency response. These include:

1) Response times, safety for the community and insurance costs related to FUS ratings.

2) Increased wear and tear on vehicles and equipment due to improper storage and access routes.

3) Ongoing heightened risk of delays for primary responses due to rail crossings.

4) Significant costs to bring the operations facility and temporary buildings into compliance with with building code requirements including post-disaster standards.

5) Recruitment and retention challenges impacting the department resulting in increased overtime and loss of experienced staff.

What next:

As we wrap up the pre-planning stage, further action is required to continue advancing the project including:

1) Confirming the scope of the facility. The pre-planning report provides the opportunity for Council to understand work undertaken to confirm the building program required to support the service area. The scope as developed for the needs-based firehall also then informed the cost estimate that is provided for budgeting.

2) Determining the delivery method for refining design and construction of the project. This is the next important decision. The delivery method and where and how the design phase occurs will determine how quickly the cost estimates can be validated, if design-based savings can be achieved, and ultimately how construction is managed. Staff are currently engaged in discussions to develop a formal recommendation to Council.

3) Determining the final funding strategy and the use of reserves, potential land disposition, and borrowing. The appraisals and analysis of properties is recommended to support this step, as is further analysis of potential options including updates to DCC or ACC bylaws, and negotiations with the Regional District.

4) Advancing through a referendum process to initiate borrowing to fully fund the project. This process has been discussed previously, and a future report on funding will provide Council with the formal opportunity to set and advance the question on borrowing.

On January 23rd at the Regular Council Meeting, Council selected 1500 5th Ave (a portion of Prentice Park) as the site for the City's replacement Fire Hall. This site was chosen as the preferred location as it provides a number of advantages including opportunities for co-use partnerships, adaptability for further growth, and a flexible site layout.

Watch a recording of the January 23 Council Meeting and listen to Council's decision.

Read more about the future location of the Fire Hall in the January 23 Report to Council: RFD Fire Hall Site Selection

Next phases of the project will include detailed site testing, facility concept design, project costing, and exploration of co-use partnerships as we work towards a new operational Fire Hall in 2026.

At the Regular Council Meeting on January 23, 2024, Council will consider selecting a site to be the home of a new Fire Hall for the City’s Fire and Emergency Services Department.

After an extensive site selection process as part of the pre-planning phase of the Fire Hall Replacement project, a portion of Prentice Park (1500 5^th Ave) is being presented as the recommended site option for the new Fire Hall.

Report to Council: RFD Fire Hall Site Selection

In 2022, the old Fire Hall at 692 3^rd Ave was decommissioned due to significant issues with the facility structure and function and the inability of the site and structure to meet current requirements for a fire hall. At that time, FFESD relocated to operate out of the City's old Public Works office, adjacent to the Operations Facility at 1492b Railway Ave and a project was initiated to select a new site for constructing a purpose-built fire hall to serve the community for the next 50+ years.

Working with the consulting firm, Arcadis Architects Inc. (Arcadis), staff conducted an extensive planning study, including stakeholder and public engagement. This study included a review of FFESD operating requirements, a determination of the fundamental criteria for selecting a suitable site to build an efficient fire hall within the intended timeline, and a set of requirements to analyze those sites that met the fundamental criteria.

All City-owned land was considered through the process. Additionally, a formal request for expressions of interest (REOI) to identify potential site partners and co-uses was issued, and direct outreach was undertaken to develop awareness of the EOI. While this provided a number of potential co-users and co-uses that could complement a functional fire hall, the two potential sites that were put forward did not meet the fundamental criteria identified through the initial planning work. This process led to the identification of two suitable City-owned sites for further analysis: Site 1: 902 2nd Avenue and Site 2: 1500 5th Avenue.

Test fits were conducted for both finalist sites and the results put through a site evaluation matrix that considered the evaluating criteria determined through the stakeholder engagement and regulatory requirements for a fire hall. Site 2 (1500 5^th Ave) is the recommended site for the replacement Fire Hall for both its technical advantages and the flexibility of the site to accommodate co-uses and future growth. It emerged as the preferred site for both the FFESD and City internal business units, and was the recommended site by the Community Working Group.

Benefits of the site include: it meets standard NFPA and FUS response requirements, has a larger site area and less setback constraints, a shorter distance to Hwy 3 than Site 1, and no known site contamination issues. The biggest advantage to the Prentice Park site is the flexibility that the larger site provides for site layout, future expansion beyond the anticipated 15% growth rate, and the independent development of a co-use that doesn’t affect the aggressive project timeline.

Read the full Fire Hall Replacement Project Technical Report.

Once Council has selected a site for the new Fire Hall, the City’s project team will work with Arcadis to advance the next phases of pre-planning including costing, detailed site testing and remediation where required, and the finalization of a funding strategy within a workable timeline to obtain approval of the electors for any required borrowing to meet the timeline for a new operational Fire Hall in 2026.