Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Municipality of Thorne hosted an
information session last week to address
increasing concern from residents and ratepayers
over the amalgamation of the Thorne and Otter
Lake fire departments that occurred nearly three years ago.
In recent months, residents of the municipality
have raised concerns about budget and
management of the amalgamated department
with Thorne’s municipal council.
Karen Kelly, mayor of Thorne, said the meeting
was called to “let everybody know why we did
what we did.” Julien Gagnon, the public safety coordinator for
MRC Pontiac, was one of the five speakers present,
and addressed a key cause for the amalgamation
early on.

“We seem to be having the same issue across
Canada and across North America,” he said.
“There’s a harder and harder time to recruit, and
the retention of our firefi ghters is more and more
difficult.” Gagnon said that with the drop in numbers, it
is becoming increasingly necessary to amalgamate
fire departments, “so we can not only answer calls
together, but also to have the same tactics and
strategies in place to work together when fighting
fire.” Gagnon added that provincial legislation
mandates a minimum number of certified
firefighters be available to answer calls at any
given time.
“We always require a minimum of eight, and
Thorne no longer had eight firefi ghters,” Gagnon
explained, adding that three times that number of
firefighters is what’s recommended.
And so in January 2021, an inter-municipal
agreement to amalgamate the Thorne and Otter
Lake fire departments was made, and the Pontiac
North Fire Department was born.
Pontiac North Fire Department director and
chief Denis Chaussé cited an increase in 911 calls as
another major factor necessitating amalgamation.

Year after year, your fire department received
more demands from the 9-1-1 services,” Chaussé
said, addressing the Thorne community.
“We have structural fires, car fires, water fires,
bush fires, electric fires… Today we also have
motor-vehicle accidents, water rescue, and off-
road rescue assistance,” Chaussé said.
Operating costs rising
Chief Chaussé also received questions
regarding the budget and spending of the Pontiac
North Fire Department.
While the departments are officially
amalgamated, budgets are calculated separately
for services to each municipality.
Chief Chaussé said the Thorne fire department
budget for 2022 was around $77,000, and rose
subsequently in 2023 to over $96,000.
The Otter Lake Fire Department budget
estimate for 2023 is $221,470.
This brings the Pontiac North Fire Department’s
budget to over $300,000.
He cited new equipment, regular inspections
and verification of equipment, along with the
increasing costs caused by inflation as key factors
driving the budget upward.
“When you got cheap equipment, you get cheap
results,” said Chaussé, adding the department
was investing in higher quality equipment, like
leather boots, which he said are ergonomically
better for the firefighters than the cheaper rubber
boots they’d used previously.
He also reminded residents at the meeting that
each firefighter costs the municipality $160 an
hour.
Ronnie Vadneau, a Pontiac North firefighter
who worked in the Otter Lake Fire Department
for 30 years prior to the amalgamation, said he
felt that people view firefighters as an expense.
“I don’t think we’re an expense,” Vadneau said.
“We’re indispensable.”
Vadneau said he believes the amalgamation
should have happened a year prior to when it did.
“It is something that is greatly needed between
the two fire departments.”
Mayor Kelly said she believes the concerns of
the ratepayers were adequately satisfied by the
meeting.
“The majority of them will be happy now,” she
said. “They’ll be happy that we had this meeting
and they got some of their queries answered.”