Fort Simpson (Apr 18/03) - If village council takes the ambulance service away from the volunteer fire department, the community could wind up with a skeleton crew for a fire brigade.

Fire chief Pat Rowe, warned most of the 14 members of the department are willing to resign over the issue.

At the April 7 village council meeting, Coun. Duncan Canvin asked his peers to consider abandoning the ambulance service. He suggested the village could thereby avoid costs associated with a new ambulance and a fire hall extension.

He added that ambulance calls place too great a burden on the limited number of volunteers. Counc. Kirby Groat, a former firefighter, concurred on the latter point.

At Monday's committee-of-the-whole meeting, Rowe was present and disagreed vehemently with both assertions.

He noted that, through service charges, the fire department has already raised $244,000, which is in a reserve fund. That's more than the cost of a new ambulance. The remainder will be applied to the fire hall extension, he said.

"It's our goal that the ratepayer never has to pay for any major piece of apparatus again, ambulance or fire," Rowe told the Drum.

As for being overburdened, he said, the 14 volunteers currently work one week per month unless they have other commitments or ask for a break. Including ambulance service, the department fields more than 300 calls per year, according to Rowe.

"We can handle anything that Fort Simpson can throw at us," he said in an interview. "They (council) never ask the department anything. That's what we're so upset about ... it's a kick in the teeth."

Rowe's research indicates that privatizing the service would cost the village about $1 million per year. He added that turning the ambulance over to the territorial government isn't an option.

Kathy Tsetso, CEO of Deh Cho Health and Social Services, confirmed that.

"Our board just doesn't have the capacity to do that," said Tsetso. "

That would be a shame (to take it away from the fire department). Fort Simpson is probably the best-run, organized volunteer ambulance service (south of Great Slave Lake) in my opinion."

Rowe added that the ambulance service was run externally by a group of volunteers until five years ago. It was then that village council wanted the service amalgamated with the fire department, he noted. Training together for both services is integral to maintaining cohesion among the volunteers, he added.

At Monday's meeting, Canvin said he was only thinking of the firefighters' welfare.

"It was a simple, innocent suggestion to make your lives easier," said Canvin. "I've never once questioned your capabilities or training."

Groat said he thought that volunteers were in short supply.

"If I'm wrong on that I apologize," he said.