Toward Enhanced Fire Coverage in the Eastern Part of the MRC of Argenteuil
Published May 22, 2025
Citizen informationLachute, May 22, 2025 – The municipalities of Gore, Lachute, Mille-Isles, Saint-André-d'Argenteuil and Wentworth are jointly announcing to their residents that they are working together to identify solutions to significantly improve fire service coverage within their territories. The five municipalities are currently collaborating on sharing Lachute’s resources to implement an enhanced command staff and an internal duty team in the four other municipalities through a service provision agreement.
This initiative reflects a shared commitment to ensuring better protection for residents, businesses, and industries while controlling medium and long-term costs.
A Concrete Response to Current Challenges
In the face of growing challenges related to workforce availability, the complexity of interventions, and evolving regulatory requirements, the five municipalities have undertaken a thorough analysis to assess the benefits of coordinated management and shared internal duty staff. This initiative is guided by several key objectives:
- More effectively meeting the response strength required by the fire safety risk coverage plan;
- Ensuring greater availability of command staff and a centralized internal duty crew that can leave the central station in under 90 seconds;
- Equitably distributing costs among the participating municipalities;
- Reducing the major investments required to maintain independent services, especially regarding vehicles;
- Controlling cost increases in the medium and long term.
An Ongoing Study, a Promising Project
It is important to note that this project is currently the subject of an in-depth study conducted in collaboration with stakeholders, including elected officials and municipal administrations. Each municipality will retain its fire stations, equipment, and employees. The goal is to pool certain strategic functions to enhance operational efficiency and ensure the presence of a minimum number of firefighters during the day and evening. A consulting mandate has been awarded to the firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton to support decision-makers throughout this project.
A Province-Wide Trend
This project aligns with a broader trend observed across Quebec as municipalities adapt to new legal obligations and rising costs. By adopting a collaborative approach, the municipalities of the eastern part of the MRC of Argenteuil are demonstrating their commitment to proactively serving their populations and providing a modern, efficient, and sustainable fire safety service.
Project updates will be shared as progress is made. The shared objective is to formally position the initiative for implementation starting in 2026 and beyond.
