Billing change will shift fire dispatch costs around in Westshore

This story was originally published in The Westshore newsletter, Aug. 18, 2022.

A recent billing change means Sooke and Highlands will save on fire dispatch costs, while Metchosin and the Juan de Fuca electoral district will pay a little more. The four communities (plus Salt Spring Island and the Southern Gulf Islands) have a joint contract to handle their emergency fire calls through Saanich Fire Dispatch.

They opted recently to share the cost by call volume instead of a population-based percentage. The change financially benefits Highlands and Sooke, which will save $16,000 and $3,400, respectively, each year, while the other four will pay slightly more.

Metchosin will pay about $9,000 more, and the Juan de Fuca electoral district’s bill will increase by about $6,500. (Salt Spring Island also saves an estimated $11,000, while the Southern Gulf Islands will pay an extra $16,000.)

This savings is on top of a 40% drop in the bill that kicked in this year when they moved to E-Comm 9-1-1 in Saanich from Langford Fire Dispatch.

For decades, when a fire emergency occurred in the Westshore, the 911 call was directed to Langford Fire Dispatch, who then coordinated firefighters from the closest station in Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Sooke, Metchosin, or Highlands. The dispatchers were a locally developed service that met the needs of then rural and slowly growing communities.

But since there were only eight municipalities as clients, the local dispatch program was more expensive to operate than larger services that cover bigger geographic areas—like Surrey Regional Fire Dispatch, which has contracts across the province.

In 2012, Colwood and View Royal applied to leave the group and moved their fire dispatching to E-Comm. That drove the cost for the remaining communities even higher, but it was the looming requirement to upgrade technology standards that caused Langford Fire Dispatch to reach its end. The cost to achieve Next Generation 911 (which could add capabilities like video calls, texts, and GPS integration) was too high for the small outfit, so Langford decided to close it down last December.

Langford signed a new contract with Surrey Regional Fire Dispatch, and the remaining four districts that still operate as a group moved to E-Comm. That move saved approximately $200,000. This latest change doesn’t reduce the bill overall, but reallocates how costs are shared.

Even though dispatching happens in a piecemeal manner throughout the municipalities, neighbouring fire departments have mutual-response agreements in place so that no community is on its own when responding to an emergency.

Speaking of fire, the South Island remains on high alert for wildfire risk and all outdoor fires are banned.