THREE RIVERS, P.E.I. - Rural firefighters are concerned they may miss calls, or receive them hours late, after being left with only their cellphones to communicate, says the Georgetown fire chief.
Mark Gotell, who is also a former Georgetown mayor, called on Three Rivers council to write a letter to the province showing support for development of an Islandwide paging system for first responders.
He also took the province to task on statements made in the legislature last week on the issue.
On July 2, Bell Canada shut down the Islandwide paging network used by 13 P.E.I. fire departments, all of which now rely on cellphones. The province’s other 23 fire departments were already on their own networks and were unaffected.
When the issue was brought up in the legislature last week, Public Safety Minister Bloyce Thompson said P.E.I.’s fire marshal “assured me that all firefighters are able to get called to fires today”.
However, Gotell disputed that and said the issue is a major safety concern.
“We will get our calls, but that’s not saying there’s not a delay… that’s what we’re scared of,” said Gotell. “We can’t just rely on an internet-based system or a cellular system… when you’re relying on a text, you can get a text message instantaneously (or) you can get it two hours later.”
On Sunday, there was a national Rogers outage which resulted in Ontario first responders’ calls being disconnected.
Gotell shared concerns of similar incidents happening on P.E.I.
He also disputed Thompson’s statement that departments had plenty of time to adapt since they were notified of the change last November. He said the department actually received notification in January and asked Bell to hold off the change to give them time.
“We will get our calls, but that’s not saying there’s not a delay… that’s what we’re scared of. We can’t just rely on an internet-based system or a cellular system… when you’re relying on a text, you can get a text message instantaneously (or) you can get it two hours later.”
Georgetown Fire Chief Mark Gotell
Affected fire chiefs met on the issue in February and agreed to look at pursuing an Islandwide network. Gotell said the group wrote a letter seeking a meeting with government, with support from the P.E.I. Firefighters Association, but the election threw a wrench into the process.
Gotell said the provincial Department of Forests, Fish and Wildlife also used the previous Bell scanner network and that, while there are advantages, developing its own system for Georgetown would limit radio reach.
“I could be in Murray River, half an hour away (and not get a page).”
Gotell said the department is now in discussions with an Island company interested in making an Islandwide system. Gotell said the company also looked at purchasing the existing system from Bell, which he said was overpriced.
During discussions, Gotell said Bell was pushing for the department to use first responder phones provided by the company, which would more than double what they were paying.
“Bell is about money… Bell is not out there to support your community, I can tell you that right now.”
Gotell said he priced a system for Georgetown, and it would be about $27,000, noting that other rural departments he’s talked to are looking at the same price.
“You’re talking major money. If all 13 departments came up with $27,000 it would probably pay for an Islandwide system,” said Gotell, noting that even with 50 per cent funding his department would be unable to pay for the system. “We don’t have 13,000 it’s not in our budget to turn around.
"All departments are forced that way.”
