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Extension to the Dashwood Fire Protection District.
A Steering Committee was formed to draw up plans to create this expansion with representives from the Meadowood area, Dashwood Fire Department with assistance from the Regional District of Nanaimo.
From Meadowood Karen Leman
Laura Henning
Pat McPhalen
From DashwoodVFD Nick Acciavatti - Fire Chief
Dan Francoeur - Deputy Chief 62
Jan Edwards - Board MemberThis project is finally moving ahead and will take about one year to complete.
The expansion of the fire protection district will benefit dashwood in several ways as it will involve the building of a second fire hall and equipping it with additional fire fighting equipment such as Engine, Tanker and Rescue Truck.
Recruiting and training of additional firefighters from that area is well underway for Dashwood Fire Hall #2 to be located on Galvin Place,
If you are interested in applying please contact the Fire Chief at
Dashwood Fire Hall #1 ,
230 Hobbs Road, Qualicum Beach, B.C., V9K 2B2
or via Email firechief @ dashwoodvfd.org
Training has commenced and is well underway with twelve new members. This training is running side by side with the existing crew at hall #1.
The cost of all of this will be paid for by the property owners of the expansion area that has been called Meadowood and encompasses all properties in the Little Qualicum River Estates and the Strata area called Little Qualicum River Village and involves basically 500 properties with an estimated additional 200 more lots becoming available shortly.
There is no cost to the existing tax payers of the Dashwood Fire Protection District.
Where is Meadowood
This is the area basically south of Corcan Road being developed as extension to the Little Qualicum River Estates and Little Qualicum River Village a Strata style development. The costs of this extension will be borne by the owners of properties within this area that is being referred to as MeadowoodView Maps of the Dashwood Fire Protection District
Effective June 30th, 2008
This includes Meadowood
Where do we go from here?
Moving Ahead
Details will be provided as they become available.
June 24th, 2008
June 23, 2008
NOTICE TO PROPERTY OWNERS IN THE
MEADOWOOD FIRE ROTECTION AREA
Effective June 30, 2008 the Dashwood Fire Department will be officially able to respond to emergencies in the Meadowood area.
Firefighting vehicles are stored in temporary premises until the firehall building is completed.
Information is being supplied to the Fire Underwriters organization regarding the location of the vehicles, number of volunteers etc. The Fire Underwriters organization will determine whether the facts below are sufficient to authorize a different insurance rating for the Meadowood area this may take some time. In the meantime the information below reflects the facts available to an insurance provider when evaluating your personal situation.
1. the nearest fire hall to the Meadowood subdivision area is located at 230 Hobbs Rd., Qualicum Beach operated by the Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department
2. the fire hall on Hobbs Rd. is 8 kms from the intersection of Corcan Rd. and Meadowood Dr. which leads into the subdivision
3. the Dashwood Volunteer Fire Department is the responding fire department for the Meadowood area
4. fire fighting vehicles are stored in temporary premises within the Meadowood subdivision area and volunteers living within the area would be paged if there was an emergency but any Dashwood volunteer firefighter may be called on to respond to emergencies
4. a fire hall in the Meadowood area has yet to be constructed plans are for construction to be complete in 2009
We hope the foregoing is helpful. Should you need further information please call:
Nancy Avery
General Manager, Finance & Information Services
1-877-607-4111 (toll free in BC)
250-390-4111
Below is the projected time frame from the RDN as presented at the Information Meeting that was held at Qualicum Bay - Community Center last evening
June 10th, 2008
NOTICE
OF AN INFORMATION MEETING
TO DISCUSS THE PROGRESS ON THE MEADOWOOD FIREHALL
A considerable amount of work to bring fire protection to the Meadowood area has been completed. The steering committee (which includes Meadowood community members, Dashwood fire department representatives and staff of the Regional District of Nanaimo) have helped complete the following tasks:
- 14 new volunteers have completed their six months training with the Dashwood Fire Department; a number have already assisted on fire calls in the Dashwood area
- purchase of much of the firefighting equipment and clothing for the new volunteers
- vehicles have been delivered and are being commissioned into service the vehicles will be on display at the meeting
- surveying and rezoning the land in the community park
- surveying the location of the driveway access and some site levelling
- drilling a well ( over 600 feet deep)
- a geotechnical study for foundation and road works
- design work on the fire hall
The budget available for the fire hall itself is less than the cost estimates obtained to build an economical, environmentally friendly, functional and attractive building.
The cost per property for the equipment and fire hall was estimated at $310 per year. The revised cost per property to pay for the equipment and fire hall is estimated at between, $336 to $356 per year (depending on interest rates).
The Regional District will be seeking authority from the community to amend the amount needed to complete the project and property owners are invited to an information meeting on this topic to be held on:
June 23, 2008 from 7 8 pm at the Lighthouse Community Center in Qualicum Bay
For information in advance of this meeting please contact:
Nancy Avery
General Manager, Finance & Information Services
Regional District of Nanaimo
1-877-607-4111
June 10th, 2008
The new Fire trucks arrived in Dashwood over the weekend of 7th & 8th June. Training of the crew has now commenced on these vehicles; so expect to see then in your area doing training exercises.
April 21st, 2008
Expect to see the new Fire Truck and Water Tanker in your area sometime in June while training takes place for all our crew.
Below are some photo's of the new trucks under construction.
Engine E6 - 2 Engine E6 - 2 Body before painting Engine E6 - 2 Pump Unit Engine E6 - 2 Pump Controls
Tanker T6 - 2 Tanker T6 - 2 Body Tanker T6 - 2 Inside body March 31st, 2008
Roadway into the Fire Hall site has to be moved, the area has been surveyed by Simms & Associates of Qualicum Beach and they have marked the area out.
Road construction will be done Dennis Ozeros Company later this coming month.
There has been lots of work going on in the background in getting the Meadowood area up and running ASAP we are still hoping to have both Engine and Tanker here by June.
This will allow one months training for the crew and then go operational as of July 1st. The trucks will have to stored at a private location when not required until the Fire Hall is built, and incidentally this is what happened when Dashwood Fire Department first started up so it is nothing new.
December 10th, 2007
A fibreglass tank has been donated by the Crofton Pulp Mill, it's capacity is approximately 25,000 gallons (Imp).
The tank is now in storage at #1 Fire Hall to prevent vandal damage.
The tank will ultimately be installed at the new fire hall for emergency fire fighting water.
December 8th, 2007
This evening saw the Annual Christmas Party for all members of the fire department.
Santa Claus arrived with gifts for the little one's also at this time the new members that will crew #2 Fire Hall and have completed their training were also given a special package that included their pagers, personal access code and key's and other information.
Congratulations to all our new members.
December 7th, 2007
Fire Hall #2 flow test results, pump ran at about 10 gpm for an hour or so then backed off to a pretty steady 3.5 gpm. It's not great but for our purposes it's all we got!
November 27, 2007
Meeting this morning to look at cost cutting to get the fire hall building into budget. At a meeting last Friday when Nancy (RDN), Nick & Jan (Dashwood) took part in a conference phone call from the RDN Offices with the designer and cost estimator Mark van Ek. During this discussion Mark provided us with a proposal of a steel building using the basic footprint of the designer.
Since that time we have been looking at various items that are not required and also only building the shell with bare features. This has been discussed with the building inspection department and they have provided some assistance by saying providing we have basic security and one toilet operational they would give there blessing for occupancy.Well - We are still waiting for the results of the flow testing of the water well
On November 16, 2007
We had a brief presentation by a supplier of an all Steel Building "Aebig Metal Works" they have been provided with a basic layout of our requirements and will come back to us within a couple of weeks.
An in depth examination was carried out on where we could cut costs from the Venture Pacific Construction Management projection. We found a number of places where we feel they have over inflated costs considerably. This coming week there will be a conference call setup between the RDN, Dashwood and Johnson Davidson. That conference call will take place at the RDN Office in Nanaimo.
On November 14, 2007
A pre-construction meeting was held at the Hub Fire Engine plant in Abbotsford relating to the new 1500 gallon tanker they will be building.
On November 8, 2007
Meeting between the RDN, Meadowood, Dashwood, Johnson Davidson and Venture Pacific Construction Management. The later were asked to do a cost estimate for the construction of the Fire Hall. There estimated cost was well above the monies available. After considerable discussion it was agreed the we (RDN, Dashwood, Meadowood) would examine these costs in greater depth to see where cuts can be made.
We are still waiting for a flow test to be carried out by Red Williams - Well Drillers' on the well.
On October 9, 2007
Meeting between the RDN, Meadowood, Dashwood and Johnston Davidson Consultations was held at the Fire Hall today relating to Fire Hall design.
Two structural layouts were examined and a decision to adopt the tandem bay design as we will actually get more usable space than the alternative, there will some minor adjustments to bring the access road closer to the Fire Hall.
Click on picture above
to see floor plans and
elevations of new buildingOn October 3 - 17th, 2007
Red William's Well Drilling started drilling for water at the Fire Hall site to-day. By Friday 5th the drilling crew was down to what they called green rock but the drill casing had become jammed at approx: 215ft.
No more work took place until the after the long weekend.
Tuesday 9th the crew blasted the rock and freed up the drill casing then another 20 ft down but no sign of water they hit bed rock at 237 ft.
The question now is with no signs of water do they pull the casing or continue?
After discussion with those involved the decision was to continue however after another 2ft further down the drill rig developed a major problem resulting in requiring a new part that has to come from Ohio so work stops until this part arrives. .
The one good Omen is; that signs of water at roughly one gallon per minute was now evident.
Following the required repairs the drillers commenced drilling to-day Saturday 13th at around 1:30 pm.
Water was finally found at 600 feet with an estimated flow of 5-6 gpm, since they had now been drilling in bed rock a process of fracking will take place after which a flow test will be carried out.
We are awaiting the results of this test.
We will further update as information becomes available.
On October 2, 2007
At the Regional District of Nanaimo Board meeting this evening passed a motion "That Hub Fire Engines be awarded the supply of a 2008 Freightliner M2 fire tanker vehicle at a cost of $149,853 plus taxes for the Dashwood Fire Department Firehall #2 (Meadowood)
On August 28, 2007
At the Regular monthly Dashwood Board meeting held this evening the purchase of a Tanker from Hub Fire Engines & Equipment was approved valued at $150,000.00.
The recommendation now goes to RDN for approval and issue of a purchase order.
On August 17, 2007
The RDN has advised us to-day that they agree with the option "A" for the location of the fire hall and have consequently advised Johnston Davison our consultations hired for design and over seeing the construction of the building.
On August 15, 2007
Meeting between the RDN, Meadowood, Dashwood and Johnston Davidson Consultations was held at the Fire Hall.
The consultants presented several variations for the proposed fire hall layout and location. After much in depth discussion concept A with a couple of minor changes (such as twisting the building to make it parallel to the driveway and also a possible re-location of the septic field to the SE side of the building but not less than 100 feet from the well site) was the location / layout most favoured. The RDN is going to re-examine this concept over the next few days and will advise Johnston Davidson their decision.
Your committee is now going to get cost estimates for both the Septic Field and also the Well Drilling to ensure water is available in the area witched.
A copy of concept "A" is shown for your information.
On July 26, 2007
Steering Committee from Meadowood, Dashwood Fire Department and the RDN meet at Dashwood Fire Hall #1 to go over the actual sitting of the Dashwood Fire Hall #2 which will be located on Galvin Place.
Simms and Associates have surveyed the area showing where the toe of the site slope is located and the existing gravel roads. Onto this drawing several ideas were brought forth for presentation to the Consultants - Johnston Davidson from Vancouver.
Later that morning we meet with Johnston Davidson and went over many items of our requirements, this also included a site visit and a return the Dashwood Fire Hall #1 for further discussion.
We will be meeting again with Johnston Davidson in about three weeks time when they will come forward with there idea's on actual location and building layout.
On July 17, 2007
The pre-construction meeting was held dealing with Fire Pumper at Hub Fire Trucks Plant in Abbotsford to go over all the finer points of our requirements. At the same time your representatives were given a tour of the plant to learn how everything was assembled, this also provided many answers to our questions.
On June 28, 2007
Following the Regional Board Meeting of the RDN last Tuesday 26th June the board has awarded the contract to supply the new pumper for Meadowood to Hub Fire Trucks of Abbotsford, BC.
Surveying of the one Hectare parcel of land out of the Park area is in progress. The work being done by Sims Associates, Qualicum Beach
On June 26, 2007
RDN informed us to-day that the Consultants Johnston Davidson have been sent a letter of approval and will shortly have a contract to proceed. The building Committee will be meeting within the next week so all ideas are ready for the joint meeting with the RDN & Johnston Davidson so we can pass on our ideas what is required.
Water has been located on site by Don Laviers - Water Diviner.
On June 20, 2007
Members of the Dashwood Board and Meadowood Steering made a visit to Hyde Creek to inspect a new truck that they had purchased approx: three months earlier. The general view was this was not the truck for Meadowood and we the committee recommended to the RDN that Hub Fire Trucks of Abbotsford, BC be the supplier for the new pumper.
On June 6, 2007
Fire Pumper and also a Fire Water Tanker - Following the Truck Committee meeting last night arrangements are in progress to interview on site the respective company representative's over the next week to see where we can cut costs.On June 1, 2007
Dashwood Fire Department received two bids to supply a Fire Pumper and also a Fire Water Tanker, the bids came in over budget for the tanker and this is being re-accessed.
On May 23, 2007
Dashwood Fire Department received three bids to supply Engineering Services, these bids are being accessed and this includes interviews with the respective company principle. This work is on going by the respective committee.
On May 22, 2007
The Regional District of Nanaimo Board of Directors approved a series of Bylaws to establish and support the new Meadowood Fire Protection Service Area in Electoral Area F. This allows the Dashwood Fire Department, which currently services about 1,000 properties in Electoral Areas G and H, to expand its response boundaries once a new fire hall has been built and equipped.
I am impressed with the community effort that went into creating this new fire protection service area, said Area F Director Lou Biggemann. A group of dedicated volunteers spent five years working with Regional District of Nanaimo staff and the Dashwood Fire Protection Society to bring fire protection to this developing neighbourhood.
Now that the new Bylaws are in place, the Regional District of Nanaimo can re-dedicate up to one hectare of land within a community park in the Meadowood neighbourhood for the new fire hall. Dashwood and Meadowood taxpayers along Meadowood Way (beyond Corcan Rd.) to the top of Little Qualicum River Village in Electoral Area F will fund the costs of building and equipping the new fire hall.
April 26th, 2007
Your Dashwood Fire Chief and the Truck Committee has been working very hard getting the specifications done for both a fire engine and a tanker. These specs have now been completed and meet with approval of our Board of Directors on the 24th, April 2007, and were forwarded later that evening to the RDN electronically.
The RDN is now in the process of vetting them to ensure the correct legal language has been used prior to advertising our requirements asking for bids for supply of this equipment.
The advertising commenced as of May 2nd, 2007 and will be country wide, however those companies that we especially want bids from will also be notified directly. This advertising will be for four weeks and all bids will be addressed to the Chairman of the Board and will not be opened until June 1st, 2007 @ 3:00 pm. Work will then start on evaluating all the bids against the requirements laid out, once completed a recommendation will then be made to the RDN for the purchasing of the said equipment.
While this has been going on work is proceeding in getting Engineering Services Company for design of the new fire hall the RDN is handling this as it being advertised by them starting 25th, April 2007.
All bids have to be in by 3:00pm May 23rd, 2007. These bids have now been received and are being assessed by the Dashwood Board and then forwarded onto the RDN for approval by staff and ultimately approval by the Regional Board of Directors. This will hopefully be completed by mid to late June when an announcement will be made indicating the successfully bidder.
March 20th, 2007Work has started on drawing up the specifications for both Fire Engine and also the Water Tanker.
A building committee is being formed with the RDN, Dashwood and Meadowood their first meeting is scheduled for the March 27th, 2007 in Parksville.
After the Engineering services have been hired; discussion will start on the more detailed requirements for building and other works required.
However there is a lot of work that has to be completed before that such as confirming with the RDN Parks folk exactly where the Dashwood Fire Hall #2 will be located.
Then a land surveyor has to be brought to survey for legal description so that we can extract this land out of the community park.
This will then be followed up by re-zone this portion of the land from Park to Public Utility.
We have set a dead line date of July 1st, 2008 to become operational however this is not carved in stone but we must have a dead line to aim for.
Operational budget - this covers a wide range of items from fuel for the trucks, costs of routine testing of equipment, heating costs, communication cost such as radio license and security alarm monitoring.
Estimated Cost to Property Owners
MEMORANDUM - Explaining the need to remove a portion of the Community Parkland for other Community Purposes Bylaw 1508, 2006 MEMORANDUM - Explaining the introduction of Bylaws to Establish a New Fire Service Area
Meadowood Fire Service Establishing - Bylaw 1509, 2006.Meadowood Fire Service Loan Authorization - Bylaw 1510, 2006
Dashwood Fire Service Capital Charge - Bylaw 1511, 2006
All Bylaws have now received the third reading by the RDN,
and received approval and registration in Victoria.
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Updated June 2008
