The city is looking for private companies to monitor air quality during emergencies instead of relying solely on the Ministry of the Environment.

Yesterday, council voted to put out a request for proposals to vendors who could check for toxins in the air after fires, spills or other crises. That’s a reversal of the city staff recommendation to continuing to use the Ministry of the Environment (MOE).

The move was prompted by a blaze last year at Archmill House Inc. in Ancaster, when it took the ministry nine-and-a-half hours to produce air quality results. Ancaster Councillor Lloyd Ferguson said by that time the worst of the fire was over.

Bill Bardswick, the regional director of the MOE, said the ministry is the only organization outfitted with high-tech air monitoring equipment that can properly measure air quality. He argued that though private contractors could get to the scene faster, their equipment wouldn’t show the full range of toxins in the air.

City staff also say that MOE representatives are already dispatched to serious fires that would require air monitoring.

However, a clearly frustrated Ferguson said during the Archmill fire the ministry failed to provide adequate information about the plume of smoke drifting above his ward and whether his constituents should evacuate.

“Dammit, I wanted to go on the news and say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is what’s in the plume, make your own decision,’” he told committee yesterday.

City staff have been instructed to report back to council before awarding an air monitoring contract to a private vendor. A preliminary search showed the city would likely pay $7,000 to $12,000 for each emergency.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger and councillors Maria Pearson and Brad Clark voted against issuing the call for air-quality contractors.