Central Cariboo Volunteer FD?

Earlier today - Cariboo RD Area 'F' Director Joan Sorley posted the following on her Facebook fan page:

Fire protection services will continue in the Williams Lake Fringe area for the first 120 days of 2013 at the rate offered by the City pre-referendum, thanks to a Supreme Court injunction obtained yesterday. This is only a short-term solution - it gives us a bit of time to weigh our options. There will be a public meeting January 17 at 6:30 pm in the Gibraltar Room. We have heard that there is interest in starting our own Central Cariboo VFD. One of the biggest challenges of doing so is the recruitment of volunteers. If you are interested in serving, please let us know. Call our office or your Area Director.

While I think it is great that Director Sorley is floating this idea as an alternative to the current arrangement (rural fringe residents provided City of WL Fire Department services), I have several concerns with this idea:

1) Given that Volunteer Fire Departments in Lone Butte and Barlow Creek have come close to closing their doors due to low firefighter numbers - will a "Central Cariboo VFD" be any better at retaining their volunteer firefighter numbers and should the Cariboo RD begin to consider the idea of paying our volunteer firefighters like the Williams Lake Fire Department??

2) How quickly can firefighters be trained to provide professional fire fighting services? and how quickly can fire fighting equipment and a fire hall(s) be established and be obtained?

3) Would a 'Central Cariboo VFD' rob volunteer fire fighters from 150 Mile and Wildwood VFD's? Or in other words -- are we "Robbing Peter to pay Paul"?

I am certain that residents' themselves may have other questions that would need to be addressed...

This sort of discussion would and should, in my view, happen over a 12 month period and not a 4 month reprieve period where it appears we are making decisions based on emotions and not on facts and rationale thought

But big kudos to Joan Sorley for wanting to explore alternatives, in light of the City of Williams Lake's more recent moves for providing fire protection to our rural neighbours...

Over to you, CRD Residents' -- stay with Williams Lake (notwithstanding changing their offer a mere 2 weeks after a referendum) or say to Williams Lake -- forget this, we'll start our own fire department...

SBF