ABmunis’ participation in Fire Services Review – Level of Service

Earlier this month, Municipal Affairs began engaging Albertans on potential legislative changes to the Municipal Government Act that would require municipalities and Metis Settlements in Alberta to establish a level of service for their fire service. 

Alberta Municipalities thanks those members who participated in the provincial government’s consultations and shared their thoughts with us. Based on our members’ feedback, we sent the Minister of Municipal Affairs a letter outlining our association’s position on this important issue. 

Here’s what we said: 

• We support the overarching goals of this proposal — enhancing public safety, improving fire service delivery, and ensuring communities are equipped to respond effectively to fire-related emergencies. We also recognize the importance of creating clear frameworks that support fire services and align with community risk.
• We oppose mandating municipalities to establish a level of fire service, as member municipalities have raised several concerns with this approach:
• Financial impact: Developing and maintaining a level of service based on a community risk assessment could impose significant costs on municipalities, especially those already operating at or beyond capacity. Without additional funding, this requirement could strain local budgets, force difficult trade-offs, and affect municipal viability.
• Volunteer sustainability: Increased training and operational demands may deter volunteer participation, further challenging service delivery in rural areas.
• Liability and risk: Establishing a level of service could expose municipalities to liability if they are unable to meet this standard due to resource limitations.
• Municipalities are already struggling to maintain essential infrastructure, cover the rising costs of policing, and adapt to numerous changes in provincial legislation that mandate additional requirements and activities.
• Given these ongoing challenges, ABmunis recommends that Municipal Affairs and the Office of the Fire Commissioner help build municipal capacity to establish a level of service by developing and sharing best practices, guides, resources, and tools. For example, a few municipalities have identified that it would be beneficial to have a risk assessment guide.
• We also encourage the provincial government resolve those issues previously raised by municipalities that pose challenges to delivering fire services (e.g., costs of vehicles and equipment, recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters, and increased volume of medical calls). 

If you have any questions about ABmunis’ position on this issue, or you wish to share any additional feedback, please contact kelly [at] abmunis.ca (Kelly Santarossa), Senior Policy Analyst.