As Kamloops City Council starts contending with how to close a roughly 7-million-dollar budget gap, Kamloops Fire Rescue has confirmed it will be coming in with a significant ask early next year.

Chief Ken Uzeloc says KFR will be requesting 10 new fire fighters in a supplemental budget request in the Spring for the Westsyde Station to get it to full capacity, noting they’re currently only able to run one truck out of Station 4.

“It’s two [firefighters] per shift.  So overall, with the relief factor, to get that compliment up on each platoon to have two more firefighters, you actually need ten firefighters,” said Uzeloc.

He notes at present, whenever the Westsyde Station is called out, they normally have to “borrow” resources from the closest available station, which is Brocklehurst.

“Station 2 in Brocklehurst is our busiest station. So we know there’s going to be calls there,” notes Uzeloc.  “If they’re not there, we’re either sending units from other stations to cover, which increases our response times. Or, we have to move station coverage in there, because we know a call is going to come in, which again, creates a gap somewhere in our system.”

Uzeloc notes their request has been on the city’s radar for some time.

A cost figure for the 10 new firefighters has not been unveiled.

It will be up to the current council to decide if the request will be approved, as the ask from KFR has not been baked into the existing budget plans.

“At this point and time, there’s no approved new halls or firefighters in the budget,” said Corporate Services Director Kathy Humphery while delivering the initial budget estimates to the new council on Tuesday.  “We’ve based the budget on the current approval from councils, which doesn’t include any firefighters.”

The City of Kamloops is currently looking at a 7-million-dollar shortfall in the coming budget, leaving taxpayers potentially forced to cover a 5.6-percent increase next year if no savings or revenues can be found.