PICTOU – County council is sending off a request to Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry to meet with the Linacy Fire Department over its concerns about fire services being provided at the area’s new jail.
Coun. Andy Thompson said rural fire departments such as Linacy are trained and equipped to handle mostly residential fires so firefighters feel they need more information as to what is expected of them if a fire breaks out in the Northeast Nova Scotia Correctional Facility currently being built in Priestville.
“This has changed the water on the bean in that district and they want to start a conversation to see if they can work together with the correctional facility,” said Thompson.
He said the Linacy department wants to know what fire and equipment regulations are required as well as to tour the correctional facility in Burnside.
Nova Scotia’s Acting Justice Minister Maurice Smith said the Northeast Nova Scotia’s superintendent will be reaching out to fire departments in the area soon to ensure they understand how fire response in a correctional facility works. He said the Linacy Fire Department will be contacted soon to discuss its needs.
“We work hard to anticipate all kinds of safety concerns, including fires, in our correctional facilities,” he said. “In all our correctional facilities, our staff work well with emergency responders, including fire departments, to ensure safety with our facilities. We are in regular communication with fire departments near our facilities.”
The Northeast Nova Scotia Correctional Facility will be completed in mid-2014. The facility will be 81,000 square feet and will house 200 beds, six day rooms, health and dental suites as well as electronic drug detection systems and state-of-the-art closed circuit TV monitoring.
The province recently called for representatives to be part of a community liaison committee that will meet once a month to discuss community concerns and share information about the facility.
