FALMOUTH, N.S. — Hantsport firefighters may need to rely a bit more on mutual aid should a fire break out in the Falmouth area this summer.
On May 28, West Hants council approved a water reservoir rehabilitation project, due to start in early June, that will see the Falmouth Water Utility's standpipe repainted. The project will see the reservoir drained so that the interior can be blasted and re-coated, plus the exterior will be painted and West Hants' 'wave' logo added.
Brad Carrigan, West Hants' director of public works, explained the project to council, noting as a cost-saving measure, Windsor and West Hants issued a joint tender for the work.
The cost of the project is $607,060 plus applicable taxes, with West Hants paying $420,000 from gas tax reserves and $88,260 from the Falmouth Watershed Utility depreciation reserve. The Town of Windsor will pick up the remaining $98,800.
“Back in April, we did issue a request for tender for the recoating of the Falmouth standpipe as well as the Windsor standpipe,” said Carrigan, noting the scope of the work is more for West Hants.
“The Falmouth standpipe requires coating both inside and out and Windsor's standpipe only requires external coating at this time.”
Four tenders were received and the contract was awarded to Byron MacDonald Limited. It's anticipated to take up to six weeks to complete.
Hantsport's deputy fire chief Paul Maynard said in a phone interview that the station has been apprised of the impending work.
“Brad tells me that we will still have water in the hydrants, however, our capacity would be greatly reduced because they're draining the big water tank,” said Maynard.
“What that means for us (is) for any potentially significant fires, we will have to bring in additional tankers to shuttle water and probably use some of the identified water sources in the Falmouth area to get water for fire operations.”
Maynard said they will also rely more on mutual aid partners and automatic aid from Brooklyn should there be a significant fire call in Falmouth.
“Obviously anytime you have a water source, such as a hydrant, that may not have the capacity that it normally does, it does present some concern, however, we will have plans in place to mitigate the issue,” said Maynard.
“I think we're cognizant of it and we have a plan in place.”
