Officials say they are aware of video showing fire truck delayed by construction zone

Doppler has reached out to the District and the Huntsville Fire Department regarding a fire truck that was observed having difficulty getting through the King William construction zone last Thursday on its way to a call at Muskoka Landing.

Both said they were aware of the video (below) and that protocols are in place. The video shows the fire truck having to wait for vehicles to clear the way, then reverse, and then go forward to get through. What the video doesn’t show is that before the recording starts, the fire truck driver was directing traffic from his window.

Fortunately, staff at the seniors’ home confirmed the incident the fire department was responding to was a false alarm. Someone had pulled the alarm at the home, but there was no fire or other incident.

“We are aware of the video of the fire truck at the intersection,” noted James Steele, District of Muskoka Commissioner of Engineering and Public Works, via email correspondence. “Under the Highway Traffic Act, traffic is required to pull over to allow emergency vehicles to pass them.  Where possible, the contractor will assist to allow emergency vehicles to pass through the construction area, however, given the very narrow right of way through the area we also recognize that pulling over to the side of the road may be challenging depending on the status of the traffic signals.”

Steele also noted that emergency services are notified of construction activities and restrictions, and that they understand that potential delays ought to be factored into operational planning and emergency response.

Huntsville Fire Chief Gary Monahan stated via email that the fire department “recognizes that road construction projects can create challenges for all emergency services. However, our primary focus remains ensuring that we continue to provide timely and effective emergency response to the community.”

Without speaking to the specific incident on Thursday, Monahan said the fire department actively monitors construction activity within its response area and “works closely with contractors and dispatch services to assess potential impacts on access routes. When road work is planned, we review detour options, adjust response plans as needed, and communicate operational considerations to our firefighters,” he stated. Doppler did not receive a response to follow-up questions about this specific incident at press time.

Construction timing

Residents have also been questioning the timing of the project during the year’s busiest months and its impact on local businesses.

Steele explained that the construction season in Muskoka is limited to the months between April and November.

“Weather is less predictable outside of these months and, if winter comes early (or stays late), can have a significant impact on construction activities, particularly those which require excavation (e.g. water, sewer and forcemain replacement).  Frozen ground (or freezing excavations) can cause future impacts such as settlement on the road, so frozen conditions need to be avoided to maintain the structural integrity of the reconstructed road. Also, placing asphalt in cold temperatures can impact quality, requiring replacement and/or rehabilitation well before the planned useful life,” he stated, adding that avoiding winter construction and/or the avoidance of freezing temperatures (where possible) helps to ensure efficient use of tax dollars.

“We carefully considered how best to stage the work given the schedule constraints related due to the short construction season in Muskoka, underground infrastructure that does not follow the road alignment (it crosses the right of way, which is not typical of current construction methods) and maintaining uninterrupted service to customers throughout the corridor, all with a focus on minimizing community impacts.”

He said the project team landed on a traffic management and staging plan that took into consideration all of the constraints. “We also responded to community concerns on the plan, which initially was one-way southbound, and modified it to provide both northbound and southbound traffic.”

He said components of the project fall under the District’s estimated $50M grant from the province of Ontario under the Housing Enabling Water and Wastewater Systems fund. Under the grant, projects are expected to be substantially complete by March 2027. 

More information on the suite of projects and the funding can be found here.

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