A2 Terrace Review — Wednesday, March 20, 1991

Regional district to explore

by Tod Strachan
ee es

The implementation of an
enhanced 911 emergency call and
response system was the primary
topic at a Regional District of
Kitimat-Stikine Committee of the
Whole meeting last Friday night.
The following moming, the
regional board adopted the recom-
memdation of that committee, and
asked administration to explore our
911 options in Kitimat-Stikine.

It’s a first step, but there’s still a
long way to go. At Friday’s com-
mittee meeting, B.C. Tel’s E 9-1-1
Project Team marketing and sales
manager Gerry Swan told regional
directors that if the region decided
on a 911 system today, it would
take between 18 months and two
years before the system was opefa-
tional. He then outlined the various
steps.

A referendum would
have to be called and
receive the approval of
residents within the
identified service area.

The. first requirement of the
board would be to make a decision
to explore one of two 911 possi-
bilities, the tirst being the standard
911 system and the second being
an enhanced 911 system. Swan
recommended the enhanced sys-
tem, consisting of computer-based
data in Vancouver that contains
subscriber information. This means
that when anyone within our ser-
vice area dials 911, the name,
address and phone number of the
caller is instantly displayed on a
computer screen in front of the
dispatcher.

Swan says preliminary estimates
take about two weeks to complete
but there are others ahead of us
and it will probably be about Sep-
tember before the work can be
done.

Once this work is complete, we
will have what Swan describes an
"Order of Magnitude", @ B.C, Tel
study that identifies workable
boundaries for a regional system
and provides preliminary cost
estimates. In this area’s case,
workable boundaries could be as
small as Greater Terrace, Terrace
and Kitimat, or they might extend
all the way from the Queen Char-
lotte Islands to the western boun-

dary of the Prince George-based

911 system that is scheduled to go

on-line this fall.
If this B.C. Tel report shows

promise, several things will begin.

to happen. First, B.C. Tel experis
and emergency personnel in the
recommended service area could
begin fine-tuning the details. But
considering the complexities
involved, fine-tuning might be an
oversimplified term. A central
dispatching point would have to be
established and emergency and
political jurisdictional boundaries
would have to be sorted out.

With this work done, data base
information gathering can begin,
system design can be completed, a

project time table can be worked |

out, installation can begin, and a
training program can get under-

way. And finally one day, @ year 5

or two down the road, an enhanced
911 system would come on-line.

There is, of course, one other §

thing that would occur while all
this activity was going on: a
referendum would have to be
called and receive the approval of
residents within the identified
service area.

The numbers that might be
attached to that referendum are
impossible to predict — every 911
system is a custom design — but
the system that received a 92
percent "Yes" vote last fall in
Fraser-Fort George looked like
this:

In a 52,000 square mile service
area containing 90,000 residents
the 911 system would cost about
$2.4 million to install, One-third of
the cost would be paid for with a
GO BC grant, leaving $1.6 million
for axpayers to cover. On top of
this, they system would cost about
$1.75 million a year to operate.
The bottom line for the "average"
homeowner in Fraser-Fort George
came to $15-16 per year for debt
retirement and annual operating
costs.

The numbers for Kitimat-Stikine

will probably be quite different.

‘There hasn’t even been any serious
thought put into a viable service
area amd population base for our
area. But about the time the
Fraser-Fort George system goes
on-line this fall, we should have
some numbers of our own that can
be slotted into the paragraph
above.

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° ners Washes

No one was injured but the truck, owned by Kalum
afternoon blaze behind Lindsay's Cartage at Kalum
fire is unknown.

Tire, appeared to be a write-off in this sunday
Lake Drive and Highway 16. The cause of the

FIRE REPORT.

Estimates of damage to a private
residence at 4026 Tuck Ave. that
caught on fire last week range
between $30,000 and $60,000.
According to Terrace fire chief
Bob Beckett, the fire was reported
at 5:35 p.m. on Wednesday, March
13 and is believed to have been
started by faulty wiring in an
electric coffee maker.

At 4:45 p.m. Sunday, fire caused
extensive damage to a Kalum Tire
truck parked behind Lindsay’s
Cartage and Storage at Kalum
Lake Drive and Highway 16 West.
The engine and passenger compart-
ments of the truck were destroyed
in the blaze and Beckett says the
cause of the fire is unknown.

In the only other incident in
Terrace, firefighters repaired a
leaking CNR methanol car at the
foot of Emerson St. Beckett says
the leak was minor and was caused
by faulty threads on a pressure
relief valve. He says firefighters
used teflon tape and reseated the
valve to correct the situation.

But with the weck’s action in
Terrace, the destruction of Ack-

O
PAV.

{

lands in Kitimat by fire, and a
major Prince Rupert fire that
destroyed two 3rd Ave. buildings
and resulted in one fatality, Thorn-
hili fire chief Art Hoving has only
good news to report.

Hoving says Thornhill volunteers
have found the mini-pumper they
have been seeking. He says they
were successful in their bid on an
ex-Smithers B.C. Hydro Truck
which they purchased from B.C.
Hydro’s Surrey yard. The full
purchase price, he says, was
$6,500 and it has since been
painted fire-engine red and white
for $319.

Hoving says the truck will arrive
in Thornhill soon, and when it
does they have on hand gold
stripes to apply to the sides and a
tank and pump to install on the

back. Still to be purchased are a
light bar and siren.

Now Thornhill firefighters will a
little fund raising to do. The
money to purchase and equip the
mini-pumper comes in the form of
a loan from the regional district, to
be repaid before the end of this
calendar year.

Hoving explains that the idea of
a mini-pumper, basically a pickup
truck with a 150-gallon water tank,

is based on speed and efficiency.

He says it has been determined by
other communities that a mini-
pumper is able to successfully
handle 90 percent of all emergency
calls.

Thornhill was out-bid in their
original effort to purchase a 100
Mile House mini-pumper in Feb-
ruary.

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