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Kelowna Fire Department soon to dispatch other fire fighters under contract

KELOWNA – Emergency calls made to fire departments in the Regional District of East Kootenay will soon be dispatched through Kelowna.

The regional district announced in a press release Wednesday it would spend $835,000 to have the Kelowna Fire Department use excess capacity in its dispatch system to replace the service now provided by City of Cranbrook Fire and Emergency Services.

Regional district spokesperson Sanford Brown promised a seamless transition between the two systems, which takes effect May 30.

Kelowna Fire Department already provides contract dispatch services to the Central Okanagan and Okanagan Similkameen regional districts, according to deputy fire chief Travis Whiting.

Kelowna will also provide records management as part of the contract, which runs for five years.

To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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John McDonald

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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