According to the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department, it responds to an estimated 70 hydro-related calls annually, and about 22 per cent of those calls take more than an hour.
Fire Chief Gary Monahan was before Lake of Bays Council on August 13, asking the municipality to amend its user fee bylaw to allow staff to invoice the appropriate electrical utility company for all responses exceeding an hour where the fire department is often on standby waiting for the utility company to arrive.
According to a report submitted by Monahan to the council, between 2019 and 2023, the fire department responded to 349 incidents involving hydro wires, resulting in approximately 1,086 volunteer firefighter hours. He said that had the municipality implemented a charge for all calls lasting more than 60 minutes during those five years; the cost recovery could’ve amounted to about $31,813.80.
“Staff recognize and appreciate that during significant weather events utility companies are extremely busy and require assistance from the fire department, however, fire department apparatus and crews can be committed to hydro wire responses for an extended period of time which would make them unavailable to respond to other incidents,” noted Monahan.
Council agreed to move forward with requiring utility companies to pay for fire calls that last longer than an hour. Depending on the requirement, the full MTO rate will be charged for a pumper on standby, and half the MTO rate will be charged for an administration vehicle on standby.
The MTO rate in 2023 was $543.02 per hour.