In the debate over fire protection for cottagers near Flin Flon, the Town of The Pas is often mentioned.
The Pas maintains four agreements with outside cottagers who, depending on their location, pay between $50 and $75 a year for fire protection.
But that annual fee only assures fire protection will be available.
In the event of an actual fire, The Pas charges the affected homeowner’s insurance company the cost of battling the blaze.
Greg Zimmerman, fire chief of The Pas, said there are fees of $20 an hour per firefighter as well as $450 an hour per fire truck.
The fee for a fire that has 25 firefighters on scene with one fire truck for seven hours – a realistic scenario – would work out to $6,650.
Zimmerman is unaware of an instance where insurance refused to pay the fee.
But if that did ever happen, The Pas would stick the homeowner with the bill.
“It would all depend on what sort of insurance policy the homeowner has,” Zimmerman said.
In Flin Flon, city council is still offering to provide fire protection to outlying cottage subdivisions for $300 a year for every road-accessible cabin.
Won’t recoup
Mayor George Fontaine said this would be the only fee involved – the city would not go after insurance companies or homeowners to recoup costs from an individual fire.
In the end, the comparison between fire service rates in The Pas and Flin Flon is not straightforward.
Cottagers near The Pas initially pay far less than Flin Flon’s asking price, but if they have the wrong insurance policy, they could be stuck with a bill for thousands of dollars in the event of a blaze. That would not happen under Flin Flon’s proposal.
For Zimmerman, the deal in The Pas works well and does not cost The Pas taxpayers anything.
The fire chief uses income from the retainer fees – over $60,000 a year – as his capital budget for expenses such as new equipment
Zimmerman said an advantage for cottagers who live closest to The Pas is that they get a break on their property insurance.
He estimated that his department responds to 24 out-of-town calls a year, though some are minor incidents that require only his attendance.
