Chase council鈥檚 appeal to have better funding for Highway Rescue Services was successful in prompting the B.C. government to take action on the matter.
Last year, council submitted a resolution to the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) annual convention asking the province to work on developing and implementing a 鈥渃omprehensive funding model for Highway Rescue Services such that small community taxpayers are not subsidizing a provincial service.鈥�
In the resolution, the village pointed out that rural volunteer fire departments and societies are currently providing the service for crashes on provincial highways and, while some costs are reimbursed to those communities, actual expenses exceed that. That leaves taxpayers in small communities subsidizing up to 50 per cent of a provincial highway system service.
The Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness (EMCR) responded to the UBCM endorsed resolution, with that included on the council鈥檚 March 26 agenda.
鈥淲e are fortunate in British Columbia to have dedicated and skilled emergency responders who support public safety by responding to incidents on our highways,鈥� the ministry wrote. 鈥淭his work is important and Ministry staff are undertaking work on this issue, with three immediate areas of focus鈥︹��
Those areas of focus include a committee with road rescue service providers to guide the work of EMCR and provide a voice to rescue service providers across B.C. The ministry will also work on policy development and support with immediate attention to address the rate coverage under the Inter-Agency Agreement, a refresh for the Road and Medical Rescue policy, and policy development to help address non-road rescue out of jurisdiction fire rescue. Finally, it will also offer advice and support to EMCR operations staff and service providers throughout the province.
Future work will include developing relationships with other ministries that have relationships with local government fire services for out of jurisdiction work, such as BC Emergency Health Services and BC Wildfire Service.
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