Barrie, Ontario, July 20, 2011 – Federal, provincial and municipal representatives were all on hand today to celebrate the official opening of the new Barrie Fire & Emergency Service Headquarters which will improve safety, response times and emergency services for area families.
The new 38,000 square foot facility will consolidate all five branches of the Barrie Fire & Emergency Service, as well as the City’s Emergency Operations Centre. To ensure sustainability and energy-efficiency the building was designed and built to LEED certified standards and is fully accessible. The modern, on-site amenities and services include administrative offices, kitchen and dining facilities, lounges, fitness centre, classrooms, communications centre, heritage room, meeting rooms, apparatus bays, back-up power supply and public parking. The new building has the ability to meet future emergency service requirements for one of the fastest growing cities in Canada.
“Our government is proud to have contributed to this bigger and better fire headquarters. This project has created jobs, brought essential emergency services under one roof and with its modern design, will be a beautiful focal point in our city’s core,” said Patrick Brown, MP for Barrie, on behalf of the Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. “Most importantly though, today we are celebrating an exciting project that will help to keep Barrie safe for many years to come.”
“Ontario’s infrastructure investments are making our communities safer and stronger,” said the Honourable Aileen Carol, MPP for Barrie. “The Government of Ontario is proud to have contributed to this very important project, which has given our firefighters the tools they need to improve safety for our families and children in Barrie.”
"Keeping our community safe is of the upmost importance and having a modern, state of the art equipped building such as this will allow our fire services to better do their jobs. In addition, the City of Barrie provides emergency dispatch for 12 other municipalities from this new facility, helping ensure the safety of our neighbours," says Mayor Jeff Lehman.
The governments of Canada and Ontario each contributed $4.26 million toward this project. The City of Barrie contributed the balance of the total eligible project cost of $12.78 million.
In June, Ontario had an increase of 40,000 jobs and the unemployment rate declined to 7.7 per cent.
For additional information about investments in infrastructure, visit www.creatingjobs.gc.ca.
For further information about Canada’s Economic Action Plan, visit www.actionplan.gc.ca.
For more information on how Ontario is revitalizing its infrastructure, visit ontario.ca/infrastructure.
Contacts:
Vanessa Schneider
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
613-991-0700
Office of MPP Aileen Carroll
705-726-5538
Tanya Thompson
Communications Advisor
Communications & Intergovernmental Affairs Dept.
(705) 739-4220 ext 4529
Infrastructure Canada
613-948-1148 or toll-free 1-877-250-7154
