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Worries about moisture in new Hornby Island fire hall

The new Hornby Island fire hall is just about finished and ready to open.
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Architect drawing of Hornby Island Firehall Project

The new Hornby Island fire hall is just about finished and ready to open.

But first, the regional district has had to deal with some concerns raised about the moisture barrier in the walls of the truck bays.

A Hornby retired fire chief and a serving captain said in a letter to the district last month that they were “extremely concerned” about the proposed remediation action for the vapour barrier.

Giff La Rose and Rob Zielinski wrote that an independent consultant should be retained to determine the best possible remedial action.

“It is critical that any remediation will maximize the service life of the facility without unduly burdening Hornby Island taxpayers in future, or posing a risk to public safety,” they wrote.

They said the proposed remediation of using vapour barrier paint won’t address the scope of the problem in the long term.

But the regional district says it’s relying “on the professionalism, qualification, and ethics of SUA, Island West Coast Developments and RDH”, the hall contractors, to deal with the problem.

“We will be reviewing your concerns with SUA around the possible need of an additional air handling system to reduce moisture in the apparatus bays as a result of fire operations,” CAO Russell Dyson wrote.