| Leduc County increases joint funding for airport fire services |
|
JAN. 24 - At their regular council meeting this afternoon, Leduc County council approved an amendment to the existing Leduc County/ Edmonton International Airport Regional Emergency Services Agreement, which increases County funding to more accurately reflect the emergency services response needs of Leduc County. Under the amended agreement, in 2012 Leduc County will contribute $1,663,187 to the Edmonton International Airport (EIA) to cover the costs associated with having three full-time fire fighters per shift ( for a total of 12 firefighters) at the EIA fire hall, who are designated for non-aircraft related duties. Under the most recent agreement, Leduc County was funding two full-time positions per shift at the airport. "During the past 10 years, this partnership has been extremely beneficial to both Leduc County and the Edmonton International Airport," says Darrell Fleming, Deputy Fire Chief with Leduc County. "Having these full-time firefighters complements our part-time crews in Nisku in having a timely response to emergencies. Funding an additional full-time position at the airport makes sense as we are seeing an increase in non-airport emergency calls, so it allows us to more accurately cover the costs for our needs while sharing the positions with the airport to respond to their needs." Leduc County has several cost-share agreements with local emergency services departments in the region. The partnership agreement with EIA is unique in that the airport firefighters do not only respond to incidents on airport lands. Under the agreement, firefighters and a jointly funded pumper truck (County and EIA) are able to respond to emergency calls in Nisku and the area surrounding the airport, including highway incidents. |
