The Steinbach Fire Department will continue to service a portion of the Rural Municipality of Hanover.

Hanover Reeve Stan Toews says for years now, Steinbach has provided fire protection for the Friedensfeld area. Toews notes the municipality did a study to determine whether this agreement should continue, or if that service should now be provided by the Hanover Fire Department.

According to the study, there are 65 residences and 21 farms within the protection area around Friedensfeld. The 2021 fees for service is $22,500. So far this year, the Steinbach Fire Department has responded to three calls in the Friedensfeld protection area. There were three calls there in all of 2020, seven in 2019, five in 2018 and 10 calls in 2017.

As part of its study, Hanover gathered information from a local insurance broker. Insurance companies use a town grade system to determine rates. The best rate is for residences with optimum protection and minimum risk, usually within a community that has a fire station and is hydrant protected. The second best rate is for a location within eight miles of a fire station. The worst rate is for a location that is beyond eight miles. House insurance policies could see an increase in rates as a result of being outside the eight mile zone. According to the study, the increase could vary between insurance providers, but could be between 20 per cent and 60 per cent.

The community of Friedensfeld is more than eight miles from the closest hall in Hanover. It is exactly 9.5 miles from the Blumenort fire hall. Whereas, the Steinbach Fire Hall is only 3.5 miles away.

Based on the results of the study, Toews says they will continue to pay Steinbach to service the Friedensfeld area.

"We believe that the (insurance) rates will go up quite a bit for some of the homeowners there," he says. "So we are sticking with the status quo, Steinbach will be providing the protection at this time."

According to Toews, this is the only area in Hanover that is not serviced by the Hanover Fire Department. He notes that could potentially change one day if a fire hall is ever built in Mitchell. But Toews says adding a hall in that community is probably years away.