As of Sunday, September 1, The Nation Municipality Fire Department no longer has a station in Fournier.
The station was formerly located at the public works garage on County Road 9. The Nation Council began to proceed with the closure plan on April 29, 2024. Fire Chief Mario Villeneuve told council the recommendation to close the station was in the municipality’s Fire Master Plan, adopted in 2019.
“This file has been going on for a number of years,” Villeneuve said.
The number of calls the Fournier station was responding to within its own area was very small. In 2023, the station responded to 11 emergency calls within the area and in 2022, it responded to just nine emergency calls in the area.
“It’s not a busy station,” Villeneuve said.
He noted that for some emergency calls, firefighters from the St-Isidore station arrived to assist within seconds of the Fournier firefighters arriving.
The former Fournier station area was from between Concession 16 and 17 of South Plantagenet in the south, to Concession 10 in the north. The western boundary of the area was near Lemieux and the eastern limit was Caledonia Road.
Most of the area will now be served by the St-Isidore fire station, except for the part northwest of the South Nation River. It is being served by the Clarence-Rockland Fire Department’s Bourget station.
The Nation and Clarence-Rockland share Villeneuve as their full-time fire chief.
Seven firefighters previously served at the Fournier station. Three of them already lived in the St-Isidore station’s area and are joining that station. Two other firefighters who live in the Fournier area have decided to join St-Isidore, and one who is moving from Fournier to St-Bernardin is joining the station there. One Fournier firefighter has decided to leave the department.
Villeneuve made assurances to the residents of the area served by the former Fournier fire station, especially about concerns that their insurance premiums will increase because their properties will be further from an operating station.
“It’s not only the distance from the fire station that determines your insurance rate. There are a number of factors,” he said.
The level of training and quality of the equipment firefighters are using also can affect insurance premiums. The Nation’s firefighters meet all of the proper training and certification requirements and also use up to date equipment that is in good condition.
A one to five scale rates properties based on distances from fire stations. Villeneuve said for most of the Fournier area, the rating will not change because it is still within eight kilometres of the St-Isidore station. He said Riceville could be affected though but cautioned many insurance companies no longer determine premiums based on the distance a property is from a fire station.
The former Fournier pumper truck will be relocated within the department as a spare unit. The Fournier tanker truck has been transferred to the St-Isidore station, and the future of the Fournier rescue boat is to be determined. The Department of Public Works will use the former Fire Department space and the former Fournier rescue truck will be sold.
Villeneuve said closing the Fournier fire station will save the municipality about $15,000 per year, along with future savings on vehicles and building replacement.
Councillor Tim Stewart, a former Fournier firefighter, said in April he agreed with the plan.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for a long time,” he said.
He asked how many firefighters are needed at a call to ensure the job is done properly.
Villeneuve said a minimum of six firefighters should arrive at a fire within 14 minutes.
Mayor Francis Brière said there had been firefighter recruitment challenges in Fournier for a few years.
“Every year, they’ve put out the call. Every once in a while, you’ll get one or two, but it’s a rare occurrence,” he said.
During a firefighter recruitment campaign in 2023, there were no applications from Fournier.
Brière acknowledged that closing a fire station is not easy but suspected it may happen in other municipalities because of economic and human resources challenges.
“There’s always tradition and firefighters are the fabric of our community; this is not easy. I think this is something we’re going to see a wave of throughout the province.”
On August 12, The Nation council approved establishing an agreement to have the Bourget fire station in Clarence-Rockland become responsible for part of the former Fournier station’s area. Villeneuve noted a similar, five-year agreement had already been reached in 2023 when fire vehicles from Fournier could not cross the South Nation River for most of the year due to construction on the Albert-Belanger Bridge on County Road 8.
