Manitouwadge Has “All the things you need” Says Brown Regarding Forward Attack Base (+Video)

Written by admin on 19 February 2011

Will Jeffrey HALT Forward Attack Base Plans At Crocker Lake?

MANITOUWADGE, ON – For several years the issue of where a new Forward Attack Base will be located has been under debate. Crocker Lake, approximately 8km outside White River is currently the chosen location but Township of Manitouwadge Mayor, Council & Administration have been requesting that this choice be re-examined since it was originally made.

Once again, perhaps as a final opportunity to do so successfully, Mayor John MacEachern and Council are hoping to meet with Minister of Natural Resources Linda Jeffrey with the support of their Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Mike Brown and Minister of Northern Development, Mines and Forests Michael Gravelle to reiterate the benefits they are confident exist for the MNR Forest Fire Program in choosing to locate a new Forward Attack Base at the Manitouwadge Airport in lieu of the planned site approximately 90 km southeast of the community at Crocker’s Lake. The Mayor and Council have requested a meeting with Minister Jeffrey at the upcoming 2011 ROMA/OGRA (Ontario Good Roads Association and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association) Combined Conference in Toronto (February 27th through March 2nd) though Minister Jeffrey has yet to accept their request.

Forward Attack Bases are set up during periods of escalated or anticipated fire activity in a particular area, and can be portable or temporary facilities; this base would be permanent, in anticipation of the fires which regularly occur in the area. It would ensure that crown forests, residents and properties could be more efficiently protected.

A Forward Attack Base at North Crocker’s Lake along HWY 17; will require, say Manitouwadge representatives, an investment in excess of three million dollars ($3,000,000) as the location is quite literally in the middle of no-where. There is currently no infrastructure to support an attack base at Crocker Lake. A press release from the Township of Manitouwadge in 2010 stated that establishing a base at the lake would require “Starting from scratch, with the need to construct power lines, water and septic systems to support the operation, and feeding and housing facilities for approximately 40 people.” The proposed plan also calls for warehouse, and operation facilities along with fuelling stations and storage tanks for fuel – infrastructure which already exists at the Manitouwadge Airport.

MPP Mike Brown recently addressed a letter to Minister Jeffrey, at the request of Manitouwadge’s Council, asking that any ]progression of the base’s establishment at Crocker’s Lake be halted until Mayor and Council could meet with the Minister of Natural Resources to present their case for locating the base at the Manitouwadge Airport. When Council reviewed the letter from Brown at last week’s regular council meeting (February 16th) however, there was critism by some that the wording used by Brown was not, in their opinion, ideal. OntarioNewsNorth.com spoke with MPP Mike Brown just last week, 2 days after Council met, and his opinion on the situation was clear “”I’m saying take another look at it, make sure you’ve got the right place. Manitouwadge has much to offer; there’s an airport, there’s fuel, there’s all the things you need[…]” said Brown.

It would appear that the Manitouwadge Municipal Airport offers most of the services the MNR are hoping to establish at North Crocker’s Lake and what isn’t found at the Airport exist minutes away, within the Township of Manitouwadge. With the operational advantages which the strategic location of Manitouwadge would provide to the MNR, many have repeated one question that Owen Cranney, Airport Manager/Fire Chief pondered allowed when speaking with OntarioNewsNorth.com “Why spend money duplicating an infrastructure that already exists?” asked Cranney – Manitouwadge residents hope Minister Jeffrey will question this as well.