The Town of Vermilion and County of Vermilion River have come to an agreement regarding their fire service agreement.
Both involved parties have ratified amendments extending the current agreement until April 6, 2026.
The county and town both have an extensive history of shared firefighting dating back over 100 years, formal agreements between the two parties have existed for nearly 30 years.
The Town of Vermilion discussed the fire services agreement at the Jan. 7 meeting where council was not in favour of extending the agreement.
“We’ve gotten a continuous brick wall of not working with us,” said Coun. Robert Snow at the Jan. 7 meeting.
Moving into an election year also complicated things as it put a deadline on negotiating a new agreement.
“If you extend it doesn’t make any difference. We can’t do any negotiations with it because it is an election year,” said Coun. Robert Pulyk during the Jan. 7 meeting.
Vermilion Council concluded the Jan. 7 meeting voting against extending the agreement as it was and turning it back over to administration to decide how things would be handled moving forward.
Vermilion council then met on Jan. 21 and discussed the fire services agreement, and a recommendation was approved to extend the current agreement. Then on Jan. 28, the county’s council also met and approved the extension including slight changes in the fee structure.
Currently, the County of Vermilion River Fire Service maintains firefighting and rescue equipment in eight fire halls across the region, including fleets in the Town of Vermilion, Villages of Marwayne, Paradise Valley and Kitscoty, and the four hamlets of Blackfoot, Clandonald, Islay and Dewberry with upwards of 175 volunteer firefighters working to safeguard our shared community.
Read more: Long-standing fire agreement hits wall
