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By Corey Fischer
Fire Dispatch Heading South

Fire Dispatch Heading South

Aug 15, 2018 | 6:11 AM

Fire dispatch in Vernon will be moving to Kelowna.

Mayor Akbal Mund says it’s a cost saving measure that’s been talked about for some time.

“We’ve said that we wanted to look at different ways to save costs, and one of them was fire dispatch. Most communities have moved to Kelowna and I think we were the only ones who weren’t doing it through here,” says Mund.

Councillor Brian Quiring says moving the service out of market is not a new idea.

“For almost as long as I’ve been on council, that’s been up for grabs. The hope was always that Vernon would be able to get contracts for dispatch from other communities, but that didn’t seem to happen,” Quiring told Beach Radio News

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Mund says there will be no difference to the quality of the service.

“It doesn’t mean that our community not gong to be as safe. It will be no difference at all. Other communities are already dealing with Kelowna.”

He says the change will happen before next year.

It means the loss of several dispatcher jobs, which firefighters will handle until the switch is made.

Council has approved 284-thousand dollars in one time funding to cover the extra costs of firefighters providing the service.

by Corey Fischer

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What Matters

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