Lake Louise's New Fire Hall Breaks Ground After More Than 20 Years Of Planning

Work is underway on a new fire hall for the Lake Louise Fire Department after more than 20 years of planning.

The department currently operates out of two bays in a Parks Canada facility, with room for only two fire engines. Its other three vehicles are parked outside.

The new fire hall is expected to be completed in 2028.

"It's not an upgrade. It's not to meet a demand. There isn't a fire hall currently,” said Danielle Duffy, chief administrative officer of Improvement District No. 9 (ID9), which oversees the Lake Louise Fire Department.

The current space doesn't have enough lockers or office space for department members, and firefighting gear is stored at the back of the bay because there is no dedicated storage room.

“We have made this small space work and are so proud of what we have been able to accomplish while in there,” Duffy said. “The new hall is intended to provide dedicated space designed around modern emergency response, equipment, maintenance, training and operations.”

The new hall, being built at 105 Village Road beside the Mountaineer Lodge, will provide dedicated space for trucks, equipment, maintenance and training.

The design also leaves room for an additional bay that could eventually house an ambulance or another fire department vehicle.

“Part of the reasoning for that was, if there's ever an ambulance, maybe that's where it could go, or if we grow and need another vehicle,” Duffy said.

Construction is also beginning on a 12-unit staff housing project at 100 Hector Road for firefighters and other essential-service workers.

The building will replace a former daycare that has sat boarded up for years on land already leased by ID9.

ID9 currently owns one four-plex for staff housing. The new units will be available to firefighters and other essential workers, including doctors, medical support staff and recreation staff.

"In Lake Louise, all residential property is owned by the commercial sector, so if you're working full-time at one of the other businesses here, you'd already have staff accommodation through that job,” Duffy said. “But there's no open housing market here. They can't get housing anywhere else."

The two projects have a combined cost of $28.9 million.

More than $14 million is coming from the federal government, including a previously announced $5-million contribution and other grants and credits. ID9 is contributing nearly $10 million from capital reserves, $3 million will come through debentures and the provincial government is providing $1.69 million through grants.

“It was really important to council that this didn't impact taxpayers all at once, in a way that was unrealistic. So they started saving, putting money aside,” Duffy said.

The department's workload has also changed significantly during the more than two decades the project has been discussed.

“Call volume has absolutely increased over the years, and the complexity of calls has continued to shift and increase,” Duffy said.

This summer's flooding in Lake Louise offered a recent example of the challenges the department can face. Duffy said crews had to consider whether flooding could cut off access to the current fire hall and whether emergency vehicles should be moved elsewhere in the community.

Lake Louise also doesn't have a full-time ambulance, meaning the fire department responds to a significant number of medical emergencies.

According to data provided to Bow Valley Insider by ID9, medical calls accounted for at least 40 percent of the department's calls each year between 2019 and 2026 for which data was available.

They accounted for as much as 60 percent in 2019 and averaged about 49 percent across the available years. Data for 2022 was not available.

Whether Lake Louise will eventually get its own ambulance remains uncertain.

Duffy said the issue has been discussed repeatedly during her 10 years with ID9.

“A couple of years ago, Alberta Health Services asked whether we had a place they could park an ambulance, somewhere our paramedics could use the washroom and come in while they weren't responding to calls,” she said.

Duffy said both ID9 and local businesses offered locations, but an ambulance was never stationed in the community.

Emergency Health Services Alberta said there are currently no confirmed plans for a full-time ambulance in Lake Louise.

“EHS-Alberta continues to assess the need for expanded ambulance services in communities like Lake Louise as part of its long-term planning,” the agency said in an emailed statement.

One concern in the past was that even if Lake Louise received an ambulance, it might not stay in the community after transporting a patient to hospital.

Under Alberta's borderless dispatch system, ambulances can be sent to calls outside their home communities. The province changed its dispatch approach in 2022 to reduce how often ambulances are pulled away from their home areas.

“Council didn't push super hard while that was the practice, because the reality is we'd have an ambulance here for our first call and then we wouldn't see it again,” Duffy said.

There are still no plans for a full-time Lake Louise ambulance, but the new fire hall is being designed so one could eventually be accommodated.