(Argyle CAO Alain Muise briefs council on Fire Ponds Assessment report Tuesday night-CJLS News)
The Municipality of Argyle has completed a safety assessment of fire ponds.
It was undertaken last year after council was made aware of one on Surette’s Island that posed a safety concern.
Most of fire ponds in rural areas are located on private property and are used by fire departments as water source.
Councillor Guy Surette says some are not fenced in.
“Ultimately the municipality is responsible for these ponds. if anything ever happened, we’re liable. We either have to fill them in or put fences around them.”
CAO Alain Muise says there are 36 fire ponds.
“Some are dry wells, others are more traditional in nature, whether there’s a historical, unwritten agreement between the residents with a fire department. Our goal was to identify all of those.”
Eight be decommissioned while 15 are in need of safety improvements.
The assessment report estimates the total cost of safety and remediation work at $23,400.
