By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

The towns of Brome Lake and Waterloo have announced plans to expand the service areas covered by their on-call first responders.

Starting later this year, as part of a pilot project, Waterloo first responders will cover Warden, Saint-Joachim and Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle in addition to parts of Saint-Étienne de Bolton and Stukely-Sud. Brome Lake first responders will now cover Brome village in addition to West Bolton.

Waterloo fire chief Patrick Gallagher and Brome Lake fire chief Kevin Robinson said they hoped that expanded 24-7 first responder services would ensure that trained personnel reached rural municipalities more quickly in case of an emergency. “Ambulances sometimes come from Cowansville … our first responders in Brome Lake are usually there quite quickly,” Robinson said.

They explained that ambulances and on-call fire crews are sometimes diverted en route to deal with higher-priority calls, and may not be available for all emergencies. “If an ambulance is going to Saint-Étienne to help someone who has fallen off a ladder, and then someone has a heart attack in Magog, the ambulance will go there first, and the person at the bottom of the ladder might just have to wait,” Gallagher said.

Although on-call first responders don’t have the same level of training or equipment as full-time paramedics, they are able to stabilize and assess patients in a variety of situations. Level 3 first responders such as those in Waterloo, who complete a 60-hour certification course, can help someone who is injured or has suffered a suspected heart attack, stroke, allergic reaction or poisoning before paramedics arrive, Gallagher explained. First responder training, he said, “is basic, but it can make a difference.”

Transition for Brome village

Although the service-sharing agreement was signed last week, in practice, Brome Lake first responders have covered Brome village since the beginning of the year. Brome mayor William Miller explained that Brome had previously had an agreement with Sutton for first responder services, but that coming under Brome Lake’s jurisdiction “made more sense geographically.” Also, he explained, first responder services in Brome Lake, unlike in Sutton, are distinct from fire services, meaning first responders won’t have to be diverted from a medical call to respond to a fire call.

Brome Lake, West Bolton and Brome will share costs for the service according to a formula based on tax revenue and the level of risk in each municipality. “Now, they’re pooling [cost sharing] from three towns instead of two. Brome Lake is not trying to make a profit –it’s to cover costs and help support training of the firefighters. There are a number of people in Brome who work in Brome Lake or who are part of their fire personnel already, so I don’t think it will be a huge transition,” Miller said.

While firefighters generally have first responder training, not all first responders are firefighters, and the two services are separate. Robinson, the Brome Lake fire chief, who also manages the first responder service, said his team of 28 first responders was “quite proud” to serve Brome village.

Objective 75%

The Waterloo service expansion is part of a pilot project that officials hope will be fully implemented by June. “With the recent Quebec government announcement that they want 75 per cent of the province to be covered by first responders by 2030, we asked questions to see what might be possible,” Gallagher said. “We said we would do a pilot project, and once the government puts [formal] parameters in place, we’ll take another look … and see what we can do to assure the continuation of the service. It’s easy to start, but you need to make sure it lasts.”

Waterloo currently covers 100 per cent of the cost of training and deploying 32 on-call first responders. Under the pilot project, 56 per cent of that cost would be picked up by neighbouring municipalities.

“For smaller municipalities, finding on-call first responders for a town with a population of 1000 is impossible,” Gallagher said. “With this project, we can share costs and offer the service to more municipalities. It’s a win-win.”