Firefighters' union worries cuts put public at risk after rescue boat parked to save money

The union representing Calgary firefighters says budget cuts are starting to affect the front-line services people expect to be there when they need them.

On Tuesday, the president of the Calgary Firefighters Association says the fire department parked one of its three rescue boats for the day as an austerity move.

Mike Henson said the firefighters were assigned to other stations to head off possible overtime costs.

It means that if there had been a water emergency in the city's northwest, he said the rescuers would have been required to come from further away.

The fire department stations its rescue boats in the northwest, downtown and in the southeast so it can respond quickly to water emergencies.

"It will take X number of minutes longer for the downtown guys to get there by boat up the river than if you were deployed from the northwest," he said.

Union wants public to be aware

For that reason, the union president said it's important that the public know this is what's going on in the fire department. 

"Don't affect front line services to the citizens of Calgary," said Henson.

"It's not for me to tell the fire chief where to deploy his staff but if cuts affect front line services to the citizens — which this cut does — that's a concern."

It's the second time in recent weeks that the union has sounded the alarm about budget cuts.

All city departments are under budget pressure. Council agreed to cut $60 million from this year's budget to help cover the cost of a tax rebate that was given to business property owners.

The city said in a statement the decision to not staff the boat for the day was made by the fire department. It said the department is pro-actively working to cut its overtime costs and stay within budget.

With fewer people on waterways due to cooler weekday temperatures, the city said the department believes the two remaining rescue boats could provide any emergency response that might be required.

Council unaware

Members of council contacted by CBC News said they were unaware of the boat being parked for the day. 

Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said he is horrified and disappointed at the situation.

However, given the biggest areas of the city's annual budget are public services like police, fire, transit and roads, he wasn't surprised that the fire department's front-line services are being affected.

"The conversation that we need to clarify with Calgarians over the next year is: what level of service do you want and are you willing to pay for it?" he said.

"And are residents specifically willing to pay more than they have in the past because we no longer have the downtown core subsidizing all of us?"

Council has directed administration to come up with $60 million in spending cuts. That report will be presented to council on July 22. 

Part of that direction was that administration take what's known as a "least harm" approach to the reductions and to preserve front-line services.