HOLYROOD, N.L.
The Town of Holyrood has officially signed off on an expansion of its fire protection and accident response boundaries in order to serve the Old Witless Bay Line area.
At the Tuesday, Nov. 13 council meeting, a motion for the service boundary expansion was approved. According to Coun. Jim Joy, who introduced the motion, there was a plan years ago for Holyrood to service this area along with Salmonier Line, Middle Gull Pond and the Trans-Canada Highway, before it was indicated that the Town of Witless Bay would handle the Old Witless Bay Line. The Old Witless Bay Line is approximately 12 kilometres in length and runs alongside Witless Bay Line. It serves as an access road to Gull Pond.
When the Town of Witless Bay’s service for Old Witless Bay Line fell through, Joy said NL911 requested that the Holyrood Fire Department respond to calls in the area. Deputy Mayor Curtis Buckle noted the town’s fire department has been responding to calls in the area already for some time.
Under the new arrangement, Joy said the Town of Holyrood would be paid per property within the expanded boundary area.
Coun. Kevin Costello called the boundary expansion great news.
“I think it speaks highly to the calibre of the firefighters we have,” he said.
“The willingness of the volunteer fire department to extend the fire protection and emergency response to the old Witless Bay Line in addition to the areas by the town now being serviced, it shows a true commitment of our volunteer fire department,” added Joy.
Holyrood CAO Gary Corbett told The Compass in an email the town must now go through an application process in conjunction with the Eastern Regional Service Board to provide the service. He said the town was not in a position to address questions about how many households the expansion would encompass and what they’d be charged for fire protection services.
