Lake Country Mayor James Baker says while a new main fire hall in Winfield is not yet a top priority for the municipality, it's quickly getting there.
"It's not the next thing to do, but it's getting close," said Baker, who predicted this week after council took another look at its strategic priorities, a new, larger firehall in Winfield would be a top priority for council either next year or the year after.
The new firehall, which would replace the existing one in Winfield, is required because of growth in the community and also because of the larger size of firefighting equipment now. Baker said there is no room to expand the existing, aging hall.
The municipality has land for a new facility—acquired years ago on Okanagan Centre Road, not far from the existing hall.
The land has been taken out of the Agricultural Land Reserve already but seven years ago a referendum to borrow $6 million to build the new firehall was rejected by taxpayers.
Since then, the district has been putting money into a reserve fund to help pay for a replacement hall but other issues, such as transportation—particularly the need for more sidewalks—has surpassed it on the priority list.
"Transportation is still number one," said Baker. "We have situations where children are in peril when they walk to school.".
The existing Winfield firehall is one of three in the district, the other two being smaller halls in Carrs Landing and Oyama.
The district's firefighting force is made up mainly of paid, on-call firefighters. There are four full-time firefighters.
Baker said one of the problems the district has had in the past is that it trains its on-call firefighters to a high standard and often, they move on to other communities where there are job openings for full-time, professional firefighters.