Nelson City Council Receives Fire Master Plan to Strengthen Emergency Services

As part of its 2024 strategic priorities, City Council funded the development of a comprehensive Fire Master Plan, the first ever completed for the City. Nelson Fire and Rescue Services (NFRS) engaged Tim Pley & Associates Ltd. to develop the plan, which will guide the future of fire and emergency services as the community continues to grow and change.

The Fire Master Plan provides a thorough review of NFRS, including its operations, facilities, staffing, and the City’s evolving risk environment. It incorporates input from City and department personnel and considers regional trends, legislative changes, and the growing complexity of emergency response in Nelson.

“Our fire department delivers exceptional service, but the demands on our firefighters have changed dramatically over the past three decades,” said Mayor Janice Morrison. “This plan gives us a clear path forward to ensure NFRS remains sustainable, effective, and equipped to serve a growing and changing community. Council has taken some early steps to address the staffing recommendations in the plan by authorizing the hiring of two new career positions and third-party dispatch to free up additional resources.”

Calls for service to NFRS have increased from 429 in 1993 to 1,806 in 2024—a rise of over 320 per cent. Over that same period, staffing levels have remained unchanged, even as the city has experienced a 17 per cent population increase, over 1,000 new residential units, and a steady rise in building height and density. The increase in multi-family housing and medical-related emergencies has significantly expanded the scope and complexity of fire service demands.

To keep pace with this growth and ensure continued public safety, the plan recommends incremental staffing increases and a restructured department to improve operational capacity and resilience.

Key recommendations include:

• Restructuring the department to strengthen leadership and crew capacity.
• Incrementally increasing staffing, including both career and paid-on-call firefighters.
• Outsourcing fire dispatch services, currently managed in-house, to free up personnel for emergency response.
• Planning and constructing a new fire hall to replace the aging 1913 facility and meet modern safety standards.
• Enhancing training, fire prevention, and inter-agency collaboration to improve efficiency and readiness.

“NFRS is rooted in service to our community, and we’re proud of what we’ve built,” said Fire Chief Jeff Hebert. “This plan builds on that strong foundation while addressing today’s pressures. With strategic changes and continued support, we can evolve to meet the challenges ahead.”

The Fire Master Plan is available for public review at nelson.ca. City Council received the Fire Master Plan at their meeting on May 20. The plan will go back to a future business meeting of Council for further consideration.