The association representing Halifax-area firefighters is sounding the alarm over a lack of fire equipment in use after a busy southbound station was recently left without an engine for hours.

The Halifax Professional Firefighters’ Association said the municipality’s population has outstripped the capabilities of the department’s fleet and left some areas severely underfunded.

Earlier this week, no replacement trucks were available and the department’s University Avenue fire station – the oldest and most continuously staffed fire station in Canada – was left without an engine for hours , indicated the association in a press release.

Three of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services’ four 30-metre tower ladders are currently out of service, leaving only one spare 22-metre ladder truck to cover the entire downtown area.

Additionally, two stations that usually have a ladder truck as the main unit have been temporarily assigned an engine.

“We do not have enough devices in continuous service. In past years, there have not been enough purchases to keep the trucks in service,” the president of the association said on Thursday. , Brendan Meagher, in an interview.

Meagher said the Bayers Road station, which serves an area that includes many apartment and commercial buildings, has been without a ladder truck for a few months.

That could affect the department’s ability to fight fires and perform rescues in taller structures, he said, noting that an aerial ladder truck had been used to bring water up to the roof of an 11-story building in Larry Uteck’s neighborhood a few years ago.

“There can be long absences when these trucks leave for annual maintenance and we need to have spares in the fleet that can keep us in service,” Meagher said.

According to Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency’s 2022 annual report, University Avenue and Bayers Road stations are among the six busiest stations in the municipality, each accumulating more than 1,300 incidents per year.

The association is urging that fire apparatus management be placed under the authority of the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Department, rather than the Halifax Regional Municipality’s commercial fleet.

Meagher said this would streamline the process of ordering new equipment, cut red tape and put decision-making power in the hands of the ministry that actually provides the service.

A request for an interview with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services was redirected to the Halifax Regional Municipality public affairs office and was denied.

In a statement, spokeswoman Laura Wright said repairs to the three ladder trucks were underway and “the device is expected to be returned to service soon.”

“The municipality has invested in the purchase of new fire apparatus and deliveries are expected to begin in 2025,” Wright said.

But Meagher said that doesn’t go far enough. He wants to see a commitment of at least five new apparatus per year in the future, as well as new fire stations in high-population communities.

A new headquarters and four-bay fire station are already planned for the rapidly growing West Bedford neighborhood, with construction expected to be completed in 2026.

The department has 51 fire stations spread throughout the municipality.