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A Free Weekly Publication Serving All of Beaver County Wednesday, January 26, 2022, Volume 15, Issue 4

BESC continuing to protect the public with departments throughout county Patricia Harcourt The Beaver Emergency Services Commission (BESC) was established as a regional partnership by order in council on April 29, 2010, making history by being the first regional services of its kind in the province. From its inception, member municipalities have included Beaver County, Town of Viking, Town of Tofield, Village of Ryley, and Village of Holden. BESC was established for the administration and delivery of fire and emergency management services. BESC consists of six fire stations that are managed by a district fire chief and many dedicated volunteer firefighters. The regional commission’s fleet consists of eight pumpers, four tankers, seven brush trucks, two rescue units, three utility vehicles, and two quads. The commission’s headquarters are located in Viking. As a new councillor on Beaver County Council, Lionel Williams wants the public to know how impressed he is after also becoming a commission member on BESC and taking a mandatory course on what it does to protect the public. BESC provides fire and disaster (emergency management) services to its municipal partners. This regional partnership was the first of its kind in Alberta. The six local fire departments have about 100 firefighters volunteering for the job. BESC responds to structural, vehicle and wildland fires; vehicle, farm, and technical rescues; medical First Response calls; public assistance, including searches; and hazardous materials and dangerous goods incidents at an awareness level. “Collectively, we respond to nearly 300 calls for assistance annually,” stated Allan Weiss, Regional Emergency Manager, BESC. “This is still a relatively new organization and they have had growing pains but I think we are working our way into being a top notch operation,” stated Williams. “And compared to

many other jurisdictions we are ahead of the curve.” He got that message loud and clear listening to questions and feedback received from one of the presenters with the Alberta Emergency Services Agency, who spoke at the “Elected Officials Emergency Management Training” course Williams attended as a newly elected councillor. “It was an eye opener for me, and it was specific to what BESC does and the legislative requirements involved,” he said. He found out that BESC is responsible for preparing emergency or disaster plans, declaring local States of Emergency, putting emergency plans into action, and leading the recovery phase of any disaster. And BESC Chair Gene Hrabec knows all the work BESC does. The county’s deputy reeve is the organization’s staunch promoter but agrees there have been some “growing pains.” “I don’t mind taking the heat,” he said. “But it sure matters to me that the volunteers are taking heat.” Hrabec thinks the volunteer firefighters deserve nothing but praise for helping in the service of others. “The volunteers are the first guys at a fire,” he said. “They provide backup for medical services, they are the first guys on the scene for a motor vehicle accident or a heart attack at home. “They give up a tremendous amount of personal time away from their families 24/7,” he continued. “They are well trained to provide many services to you whether it be fire calls, alarms, accidents, dangerous goods, to first responder medical calls. They are there when you need them and the board is extremely proud of the overall service BESC provides our communities. Hrabec has served on the BESC board since 2017, and this is his third term as chair: “My commitment to the BESC board is provide the best service to the community as well as to support our unbelievable volunteers,” he said. “I volunteered as a fireman years ago

as well as has Councillor Pederson (Division 5) which gives us a better overall understanding of the needs. “I think the public needs to know that our volunteers are committed to their fire services and come from a real diverse background. We have farmers, mechanics, managers, municipal employees, nurses, EMTs, gas fitters, and so on from all sectors in Beaver County, and even a doctor.” Town of Tofield Mayor, and BESC Vice-Chair Deb Dueck, has been on the commission since its inception, so she knows her way around the system now in place. “I believe in the system and I believe we can be efficient instead of everybody going out on their own,” she said, referring to the towns and villages not having to run their own fire departments. “Fortunately, we all have volunteers and they are passionate about their services,” she said. Dueck said the funding received for firefighters’ practice and calls is funnelled back into their individual departments. She acknowledged there have been concerns about the fee structure used to invoice calls to residents. “We have to look at this,” she said. “It’s being revisited at the operational level at the moment.” Once that is done, management will bring the information back to the board for further consideration. But efficiencies are also there as each fire department in the county can provide backup for those in other towns and villages, or in the rural areas of the county. “I just think that we’re so fortunate that we have so may dedicated volunteers,” she said. “I think we’ve come a long way.” Dueck agrees the BESC board has had growing pains that included staffing problems over the years. But she said: “There’s a lot to developing a commission and making it a working machine.” Considering this was the first such project to be put in place, that is not a bad legacy.

And over the years issues have arisen, such as the need to update the organization’s bylaws, a task now being addressed by the board. “We’re just trying to update our stuff,” said Hrabec, noting that the current board members “are committed to sitting on committees to do that work.” He added: “It is important for the board to work collaboratively together to provide a balanced good, modern service within the fiscal layout. Having said that, it is an area we continue to work on trying to find the right balance. I believe that we need to find the positives out of situations and move forward. Education and communication are great tools to get the public involved in issues like insurance coverage, fire volunteer training, and having the proper heath and safety plan in place to ensure proper equipment and gear are provided. Unfortunately this all comes at a cost and, when factoring in COVID-19, we are seeing costs skyrocketing. “Our board is committed to addressing these issues with committees that were formed to work with administration to update and bring strong policies, governance, personnel, health and safety, training, and capital purchasing,” outlined Hrabec. “The board is in the process of undergoing an organizational review of BESC to provide us better understanding of its strengths and weaknesses.” For his part, Williams is very impressed with the work and responsibilities BESC has carried over the past decade, work which has been used in recent times due to the pandemic, droughts, flooding, and other issues. “Did you know that the province has only been in charge of two declared States of Emergency?” he said, naming the High River flood and the Fort McMurray fire as “…the only events the province led the charge on. “Other than that, the local emergency services have managed every other situation.”