The town of Neepawa is working on a new shared emergency services agreement with North Cypress-Langford, and it could mean big things for the future. Neepawa Mayor Adrian De Groot says they're working on the agreement with the creation of a regional fire department in mind. De Groot says while they have some agreements in place, taking a regional approach could greatly improve the effectiveness of emergency responders.

"The only agreement we have is with North Cypress-Langford, and the rest are mutual aid. However, there are some problems with mutual aid, in that most of the outlying communities have fire and emergency services infrastructure as far as equipment is concerned, but the ability to man them is becoming more difficult."

He emphasizes the regional approach would not mean the closure of fire halls, explaining the departments in different municipalities could act as satellite locations.

"You could muster a crew, depending on the severity of the issue. Rather than mobilize all of the equipment from a central location, such as Neepawa or Carberry, you might just take the manpower and go to one of your satellite areas and the equipment would be there."

While they're still early in the discussions, de Groot feels the regional approach could play an important role in the future. He feels it would increase the effectiveness of emergency responders, by ensuring all resources are in place.

"It's a vast area and you want to be able to get to a fire or emergency situation as quickly as possible and ensure you have the equipment that you need, as well as the trained resources to manage that equipment. I think by formalizing it by acknowledging that satellite services can exist in this model is certainly a win-win situation."

De Groot says they'll be working with the community as well as the fire commissioners office in the future to make the regional model a reality.