A blast from the past

Councillor Gallo forwarded the e-mail he received from the Fire Chief. It answered the questions asked on Tuesday night because the Mayor ruled they were out of order. Not our business,he said.
Newmarket has a contract with King and Whitchurch Stouffville.
Aurora has contracts with both those municipalities.
No mention made i the e-mail of a contract with East Gwillimbury.
Not to have a contract would be the decision of E.G.
The 12 minute response time therefore would  appear to be solely the responsibility of East Gwillimbury.
Aurora Mayor's  judgement that no questions could be answered   regarding any responsibility    we might have shared in the tragedy  was  not  better iluminated.
The e-mail forwarded by Councillor  Gallo from the Fire Chief was extensive. It provided details
of mutual aid  as well. The information was promptly and fulsomely provided in response to a request from a Councillor.
Under the circumstances, it appears communications were working as they should.
Newmarket never received  a call.
I am almost positive East Gwillimbury did have a contract for fire service with the town of Newmarket. A twelve minute response time from the nearest volunteer firehall would certainly indicate the need.
East Gwillimbury residents in the neighborhood of the tragedy certainly do need to take up the matter
with their Council.
It would seem to be  about saving money.
Not to take anything away from the seriousness of the issue,  I have a  story from years ago.
Before the amalgamation of Whitchurch-Stouffville.
A Councillor from Whitchurch came to Aurora  Council accompanied by Whitchurch
Police Chief. We had a contract to provide fire protection.
Grass fires were common in Whitchurch. Farmers started them to burn off winter dieback.
The Councillor had a suggestion to save costs.
The idea was before the fire department  responded to a call , the police chief should go to the location and make an assessment of the necessity and maybe put out the fire himself.
Grass fires were mostly controlled but occasionally  they would get out of control and become a threat to property.
Response time always was  and is the  most critical aspect  of an incident,
On one occasion, Aurora Volunteers arrived at a  barn fire south of Oak Ridges
before  the full-time brigade from Richmond Hill.
After I was defeated in the Mayoralty, Aurora established  twelve full-time fire-fighter positions.
They worked  office hours. If  they had to attend a fire after hours,they were paid the fire call fee
in addition
For several years  they had  a coke machine  that dispensed  beer  at the firehall.
When I returned to Council, I  privately tried to discourage the practice ; to no avail.
Eventually and inevitably, I received a complaint of tipsy firefighters, in full uniform
receiving food donations at the firehall.
I raised the question in a Council meeting.
At a following meeting several Councillors rose to disassociate themselves from my
disgraceful behavior. Volunteers wives  were in attendance to  witness  my comeuppance.
The coke machine was removed . Only after did I discover the firehall had been a favorite watering hole for  years to people in the know. Like the  Mayor who created the full-time department, various town officials and the postman and such.
Public works employees had asked at one time to be allowed beer in their frig to have with
their lunch sandwich. That was refused. At the time, I didn't even make the connection.
A coke machine appeared on the front porch of a house on Metcalfe street and stayed there for a while. Obviously not dispensing beer.