The Amherstburg Fire Department is putting measures in place to better protect the residents of Boblo Island.
Fire Chief Bruce Montone says high water levels and mechanical issues have been causing problems for the Boblo ferry as of late, making getting a fire truck to the island impossible.
On Monday night, Amherstburg council unanimously passed a plan to construct a shelter and leave a fire engine on the island permanently in the event the ferry is out of commission again in the future.
Montone says high water levels have put a rush on the plan.
"The previous council directed that it be done and we were moving in that direction. The high water level has just created more of a crisis because there are more days that we can't get over than there are that we can."
He says it's a matter of having the infrastructure ready to go on the island.
"I can get the people there, but the challenge is when they get there they don't have sufficient equipment to properly protect themselves and to deal in any significant way with whatever the emergency might be in terms of a fire. So this is going to resolve 98% or 99% of our challenges."
Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Montone says the long-term fire protection plan for Boblo includes having volunteer firefighters on the island as well.
"When we had our community meeting over there we had 28 able bodied residents that are interested in taking part in delivering fire protection. So the long-term plan, we would look to those people, train them and then they could provide that immediate response."
Montone adds, when the ferry isn't in operation, there's three options to get firefighters to the island — a police boat, coast guard boat or helicopter.
The cost of the shelter and retrofitting a truck to stay on the island carries a price tag of $52,000 which will be covered by the fire department's budget.
Boblo Island has 134 homes and roughly 500 residents.