Hiring 20 new Barrie firefighters over two years instead of one is a bright idea that works for the city's fire chief.
“It’s actually more efficient,” said Fire Chief Cory Mainprize. “It allows us to stagger the two recruit classes.
"To have that many at one time is a significant challenge just from a logistics standpoint, to train that many people," he added. “Splitting the recruit class not only results in financial savings, it’s operationally efficient as well."
Barrie councillors, sitting in finance and responsible governance committee during budget talks Wednesday night, decided to split the hirings in 2024 and 2025, instead of just next year. This will save $1.73 million next year.
The split hirings still need approval from councillors sitting in general committee Nov. 29 and city council on Dec. 6.
Hiring firefighters this way works because construction of Barrie Fire and Emergency Service's Station No. 6 was delayed while awaiting land acquisition.
The land sale just closed for these 1.8 acres at the southwest corner of Prince William Way and Mapleview Drive.
“The station has been delayed. We were delayed in acquiring the land from the landowner,” said Dawn McAlpine, the city’s general manager of community and corporate services.
Mainprize estimates the new station will be built by mid-2025. He said the station design is 95 per cent complete, it goes to bid in mid-December, the builder will be selected early next year and construction is to begin in and around April — with it taking a little more than a year.
Station No. 6 is designed for a single fire truck, will have a similar size to Stations Nos. 3 and 4. It’s to serve the Hewitt’s secondary plan area, as the existing Barrie fire stations cannot meet the needs of this former Innisil land.
The station carries an $11.9-million price for the land, building, furniture, fittings and equipment.
Mainprize said the fire truck is budgeted separately and is already ordered.
Funding for the new station comes mostly from development charge (DC) reserves. DCs are designed to recover the capital costs associated with residential and non-residential growth within Barrie from developers, so that existing residents don’t have to foot the bill.
Mainprize said Barrie Fire still has a big job to hire the new firefighters.
“There’s so many applicants, so much interest. We had 1,300 applicants in our most recent recruit,” he said. “That’s a lot of resumes to review and to pare down, then start the interview process, to whittle down to the top candidates.”
Before the split hirings, Barrie Fire was asking for 9.65 per cent or almost $2.8 million more in 2024, bringing its base budget to nearly $31.7 million — but mostly because of the firefighters required to staff Station No. 6 in southeast Barrie.
Approximately 96 per cent of Barrie Fire's total expenditures are for salaries and benefits.
Also contributing to the budget increase are significant price hikes for personal protective equipment, supplies, cleaning, maintenance, equipment and incorporating smaller capital purchases into the Barrie Fire operating budget.
This year’s Barrie Fire capital budget totals $295,000, and almost $1.76 million from 2024 to 2033. The majority of the capital budget is funded from reserves.
Barrie Fire capital costs include mobile radios, bunker gear and fire helmets, defibrillators, self-contained breathing apparatus air packs, thermal-imaging cameras and fire apparatus.
The department has 187 full-time staff and five part-timers in five branches — administration, operations, fire prevention and public education, communications, professionalisms standards and emergency management
Barrie has five fire stations — Station No. 1, at 155 Dunlop St. W., has a pumper, a rescue and an aerial truck; Station No. 2, at 15 Bell Farm Rd., has a rescue truck; Station No. 3, at 340 Big Bay Point Rd., has an aerial truck; Station No. 4, at 250 Ardagh Rd., has a pumper truck; and Station No. 5, at 360 King St., has a rescue truck.
