Prince George, B.C. – Fire Hall #1  is one step closer to being on the  road to  being replaced and  there needs to be an extra  unit hired,  that means another 20 staff.

Those were the two  key recommendations from the 147 page report presented to Prince George City Council

Fire Hall #1 handles more than 52% of all  calls for service in the City of Prince George, but  is  the oldest facility in the City and is not centrally located in the area it is  supposed to serve.

That leads to a couple of other issues in that the firehall is not able to respond to  a structure fire within the required 8 minutes,   and staffing shortages means  they are not  arriving  with the required 14  person team

City Manager  Kathleen Soltis says there are funds available  to start design work  for a new  Fire Hall,  once the location has been  finalized.   There  has been no discussion of dollars.  A detailed report to  City Council suggested the new location be in the area of Victoria and 20th.

As for the staffing component,  that would have a significant impact on  the budget, “We will come back to Council with an action plan”`says City Manager Kathleen Soltis.