Canada and British Columbia invest over $8.8M to upgrade ten fire hall facilities…

Quesnel downtown and Northern Rockies Fire Rescue fire halls will be receiving funding for structural upgrades

The safety and well-being of people are top priorities of the governments of Canada and British Columbia. Supporting local infrastructure during this extraordinary time will help create jobs, support local economies, and make our communities more inclusive and more resilient.

Today, Ken Hardie, Member of Parliament for Fleetwood—Port Kells, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and the Honourable Mike Farnworth, British Columbia’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, announced funding to upgrade ten fire halls across the province. They were also accompanied by Ron Richert, Fire Chief for the City of Quesnel.

Upgrading fire halls will improve critical services to residents through more efficient facilities and reduced response times. These upgrades also help meet seismic requirements and operational needs in accordance with COVID-19 protocols. Furthermore, investing in essential facilities will extend these buildings’ service life.

Among these projects, the City of Quesnel will undergo renovations to bring the facility up to current building and accessibility codes and standards, and increase the lifespan of the building by 15 to 20 years. These upgrades will provide a change room for female firefighters, increase the size of apparatus bays, increase public safety, decrease occupational hazards, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, the deteriorating foundation of the fire hall building will be replaced. The existing foundation condition puts the fire hall and public works building at risk of further damage and limited operations. Once the structural foundation is replaced, the building will be better able to provide continued service operations. 

The Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia are investing over $8.8 million in these projects plus eight other hall upgrades across B.C. through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program’s new COVID-19 Community Resilience stream. Canada is contributing over $7.1 million, and B.C. is contributing more almost $1.7 million. 

Written and released by the Government of Canada