New Fire Hall Endorsed by District of Squamish Council

The District of Squamish plans to build a new Fire Hall, Emergency Operations Centre and administration building on the site of the current Alex Munro Fire Hall #1 in Valleycliffe. Council endorsed the Valleycliffe Fire Hall Replacement design direction, general scope and budget at its Special Business Meeting on January 21, enabling the project to move forward once the 2020-2024 Financial Plan Bylaw is officially adopted later this spring.

“Council is very pleased to see this project move forward as Council wants to see at least three of its high priority real estate projects built or shovels in the ground by the end of our term,” says District of Squamish Mayor Karen Elliott. “Our First Responders deserve to work in a building that meets all seismic, occupational health and safety standards, and from an operational point of view, moving our Fire Rescue headquarters, Emergency Operations Centre and IT Server Room out of the floodplain and into a post-disaster building is critical for effective emergency response.”

Key highlights of the plan include:

• Post-disaster building that will become the new Squamish Fire Rescue headquarters, housing the fire and emergency program administration (currently at the Tantalus Hall) and the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC, currently housed at the RCMP building) to Valleycliffe.
• Moves the building, the EOC and a new District IT Server Room out of the floodplain.
• Accommodates fire fighter decontamination needs by providing adequate change rooms and shower facilities, a key health and safety component to support cancer prevention.
• Includes a Hose/Training Tower.
• Built according to LEED standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) which means that the building will be designed and built using green building and energy efficiency best practices.
• The $16.7M budget includes a 15% contingency and will be funded through a combination of debt and land reserves. Grant funding will be explored.
• The Tantalus Fire Hall will be rebuilt on its current site and will be used as a volunteer hall.
• A temporary fire hall will be built at the intersection of Guilford and Clarke Drives for continued fire protection during construction of the new building. In conjunction with the hospital, additional parking spaces will be created to manage parking demand in the area.

The project team will work towards a Development Permit approval in mid 2020. Detailed building designs are being developed and will be shared with the public once the Development Permit application is submitted. 

Squamish Fire Rescue currently has 10 full time employees and 47 paid on-call fire fighters. The current fleet includes six fire apparatus and four response vehicles. The combined new fire halls are being planned to house up to seven fire apparatus, four response vehicles, and up to 60 full-time and paid on-call fire fighters and staff.

January 23, 2020