The Town of Hawkesbury will be using crews from the City of Ottawa to assist with rescues in confined spaces and at high angles.

On Tuesday, October 14, council approved the plan, which will only cost Hawkesbury on an as-needed basis. However, about $60,000 will be allocated for training Hawkesbury firefighters to learn how to do the specialized rescues so it can eventually be done locally.

Before 2022, the Hawkesbury Fire Department had provided high angle rescue and confined space rescue services, although the number of trained staff and state of equipment had been in decline for a number of years. In 2022, the town entered into an agreement with the city of Lachute to provide high angle rescue and confined space rescue services on an as-needed basis. However, Lachute’s services were not required for any of the rescues Hawkesbury responded to between 2022 and 2025. On July 1, 2025, Lachute notified Hawkesbury that the city is discontinuing its technical rescue team and contracting with another municipality north of Montréal to provide those services to Lachute.

The nearest option capable of providing an assured response was identified as the City of Ottawa, who can provide high angle rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, grain bin/silo rescue, and machinery rescue, on a cost recovery basis. The costs for these services range from $2,329 per hour to $5,181 per hour, based on 2025 rates.

Hawkesbury Fire Chief Brian Wilson spoke with representatives from the village of Grenville, and Grenville-sur-la-Rouge, who also had agreements with Lachute and are looking for alternatives. Both of these municipalities indicated an interest in signing an agreement with Hawkesbury if it returns to offering these technical rescue services. Wilson determined that it would be best for Hawkesbury firefighters to receive the training so the department could again respond to technical rescue situations.

Councillor Julie Séguin asked how much it will cost to train each firefighter and how many firefighters will be trained.

Wilson said there are two options. One being the use of a third-party provider for the training, which would cost $17,000 per course for 10 firefighters.

 “The quickest way to do that would be with this third party,” he said.

Wilson added that a nearby industry provides similar training for its employees but joining that would take longer and lead to increased overtime costs for the town.

Seguin asked how many calls for high angle and confined rescues there have been in Hawkesbury during the past two years. She also asked, for comparison purposes, how many calls there had been for water or ice rescue.  

Wilson said there were 37 technical rescue incidents, and about half of those were elevator rescues. Six were high angle or confined space rescues. There were eight ice or water rescues during the past five years.

“We just don’t know what call we’re going to get tomorrow,” Wilson said.

“The fire service becomes a catch-all for everything that doesn’t fit in police or EMS,” he added.

Séguin suggested looking to Vaudreuil-Dorion on an interim basis because it is closer than Ottawa.

“I think what it all comes down to is how much is a life worth?” said Councillor Jeanne Charlebois.

She continued by saying that because the agreement with Lachute is gone, it is time for Hawkesbury to lead the region with the service.

Wilson said there is the potential to recover the training costs if rescue agreements are reached with the two neighbouring municipalities in Québec.

Mayor Robert Lefebvre used the example of municipal Environmental Services employees working in deep, confined spaces.