Project Background

Council, at a meeting on August 22, 2016, approved the Town to proceed with the borrowing of $10 million for the construction of the proposed new Community Safety Building through the Assent Free Zone legislative process under the Community Charter.  It is important to note that the Town does not intend to borrow the full $10 million amount and that the proceeds from the sale of the current Fire Hall site will be used to offset the borrowing.  

Once completed, this investment in public safety infrastructure will ensure emergency services can be provided to residents after a moderate to severe seismic event.  This is not the case with the current fire and ambulance facilities located on Third Street.

In addition to being seismically "post disaster" rated, Sidney's new Community Safety Building (CSB) will be constructed to meet current and future safe work best practices, and the anticipated needs of the community well into the future. Some key features of the building are:

• Provision of a turn out gear storage room with a dedicated HVAC system.  This engineered safe work solution isolates off-gassing turn out gear exposed to fire and hazardous atmospheres from contaminating common spaces with carcinogens and other byproducts of fire routinely encountered.
• Provision of a decontamination room and dedicated male & female locker rooms with shower facilities.  This will ensure responders can undergo required decontamination after a fire or emergency medical response.
• Located directly adjacent to the new CSB will be a training apron with adequate space for firefighters to safely drill and hone their skills.  At present, much of this training is done on public roadways and occasionally at acquired structures.
• A training tower that emulates the stairwell/standpipe firefighting tactics becoming much more representative of the built form in the Town of Sidney.
• Flex spaces that allow for multiple training rooms and Emergency Operation Center (EOC) configurations supporting all providers of emergency services to the Town of Sidney.

The above are just a few of the health and safety best practices designed into the CSB to look after the volunteer and career emergency service providers who look after the Town of Sidney.