An Ottawa Fire Services location study estimates that expanding existing stations instead of building new ones will save the city around $9 million in capital costs.
Ottawa city council has approved a plan to shift services at the Manotick and Greely fire stations from volunteer response to full-time firefighters to address the fast-growing populations in those areas.
The expansion and renovation of the two rural stations are subject to approval when Manotick and Greely reach expected urban density levels by 2027 and 2030, respectively. This follows the December approval of the Stittsville fire station’s transition from volunteers to career staffing.
The change is intended to reduce volunteer response time to call locations from 11 minutes eight seconds to a standard urban response time of seven minutes 13 seconds across the city.
Rideau-Jock Coun. David Brown said the approval was “about maintaining the city’s emergency services standard in a growing community.”
“It’s important for residents to understand that this isn’t because there is a problem,” Brown said. “This is because there has been tremendous growth in the community over the past four to five years.”
Brown said Manotick’s population had grown by 20 per cent since 2021, when it had 5,315 residents, according to the Canadian census. In Greely, which was amalgamated into the City of Ottawa in 2001, there was a 58.7-per-cent increase in dwellings between 2000 and 2008 and the number has continued to rise steadily, he added.
Paul Hutt, chief of Ottawa Fire Services, said the 2015 station location study expired this year, prompting an updated plan for future growth.
“There could be a lot of things happen within 10 years, but we still have to start planning today for it,” Hutt said. “We have to do that forward-thinking and data analysis.”
Evening Update
According to the plan, Ottawa Fire Services will request capital funding through its budget process for renovations of the Manotick station in 2027, with an operating funds request in 2028 for career staffing. It will then seek capital funding for a renovation and expansion of the smaller Greely station in 2030, with a 2032 operating funds request for career staffing.
According to an OFS location study, the expansion of existing stations, instead of building new ones, will save the city an estimated $9 million in capital costs. Final costs of the expansions are undetermined as they are still years away from budgetary approval.
Renovations for both stations will include improvements to living quarters, rest areas and kitchens to allow career staffers to use the spaces full-time. Hutt said the Greely station would also likely require an additional garage bay to accommodate its new fleet size. “Additional apparatus would not be required as part of this proposal,” he said.
Hutt projects 22 career firefighters will be required to staff the Manotick station, and another 38 for Greely. He said volunteers were always encouraged to apply for career positions.
There are currently 25 volunteers serving each of the Manotick and Greely stations.
Last year, city council granted casual part-time employee status for volunteer firefighters.
“They work so hard and they’re dedicated, they’re committed,” Hutt said. “But they’re at home and their place of employment, then they’re traveling to the station, then they’re responding.”
Brown said the investments would also help other urban centres like South Barrhaven, Findlay Creek and Riverside South.
“This is just about equalizing that service standard across the south side of the urban boundary,” he said.
“You’re looking at the future growth through planning maps and they’re saying, ‘OK, at certain points at certain years, your population is going to exceed really what a volunteer area would respond to,’” Hutt said. “And that’s why we’re changing the classification from a volunteer area to a career area.”
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