EVANSVILLE—Manitoulin fire department and municipal representatives say draft fire regulations proposed by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act could spell the end of volunteer fire departments locally and in the province. Concerns have been raise on the proposed regulations, which for instance call for mandatory training and certification of all firefighters whether they are full-time employees or volunteer firefighters, and response times for fire departments to fire calls.
“One of our concerns has to do with all firefighters having to go through mandatory training and certification, even for small rural fire departments that are made up of volunteers,” stated Ken Noland, reeve of Burpee-Mills Township, which has forwarded its concerns to the province. “The problem is the province is bringing all this in when we don’t have the resources and finances to do everything that they are going to require. If they put these draft fire regulations in place it will mean no more volunteer firefighters and fire departments.” He noted the deadline for providing input on the regulations, which just came out last month, was March 11.
“It’s all fire departments that this involves, whether they are full-time firefighters or volunteers like ours, everyone will have to meet all training requirements and be certified,” said Reeve Noland. “Our councils concerns mirror those that have been raised by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).”
Doug Wismer, Robinson Township fire chief, told the Recorder that if the regulations are implemented, “it could mean the end of the local (volunteer) fire department. If it comes to the point that we are not able to meet the standards being set by the province, firefighters are going to walk away. With the new legislation they want all fire departments and firefighters all at the same training and certification level.”
“The problem for small Northern fire departments like ours is that our fire department is made up of volunteers, older guys or those who work out of the area, and it will be hard to live up to the standards for instance in response times to fires,” explained Mr. Wismer.
Mr. Wismer said that while municipalities have to provide fire protection, unorganized townships like Robinson don’t have to provide this service. “The local services board has the power, given through the province to raise the level of annual fees from local taxpayers to have a volunteer fire department. It only means they have the power to do this, it doesn’t mean that fire services have to be provided.”
“We replied to the proposed regulations within the public comment period,” Mr. Wismer continued. “We pointed out the costs that would be required to go through the training and certification-that our fire department is made up of volunteer retirees and we cannot recruit firefighters from elsewhere. We will probably fold if the regulations are put in place by January 1, 2019.”
In its submission to the ministry on the regulations, Burpee-Mills council says for that mandatory training and certification of firefighters, “Your decision to give the firefighters fire chief permission from the Fire Marshall to issue firefighters successful Letters of Compliance with NFPA Standards under Fire Marshal’s Communique 2014-04 “Transition to NFPA Professional Qualification Standards: Grandfathering Policy” is positive. The July 1, 2018 due date, however, imposes a serious time constraint for municipalities to seek legal advice, as well as to complete gap analysis of each firefighter’s training to assure that the municipality is adequately protected from liability risk if anyone unfortunate occurs during a fire call.”
“We presently are gifted with the services of 18 volunteer firefighters with varied levels of training. All of these volunteers support their families through regular employment, often at some distance from home,” the letter reads. “These community spirited volunteers give their precious time and service to our community by attending monthly training sessions when possible, as well as by responding to pager alerts for emergency call outs.”
“We recommend that the provincial government provides liability indemnification for all municipal governments who comply with these new regulations (at least 12 months before the training and certification regulations come into force). If they do not provide this liability indemnification, it will be necessary for the province to provide the new funding that would be required to train and certify all firefighters to achieve the standards before the mandatory training and certification regulation comes into force,” continues the Burpee-Mills letter.
“We recommend that the mandatory training and certification regulation not come into force until at least July 1, 2019, preferably January 1, 2020 to permit our municipal council and fire service team time to complete the gap analysis of firefighter training needs. It will also enable the provincial government to arrange necessary funding for training as well as providing for municipal liability indemnification.”
On the issue of public reporting on fire department response times, Burpee-Mills “recommend that good judgment prevail for those authorities establishing fire department response times. Be considerate to avoid placing our volunteers’ lives in jeopardy by setting unreasonable emergency response time objectives for call outs. We believe that use of volunteer firefighters is the only way municipal governments can afford to provide fire protection for residents in rural communities. Please avoid unreasonably, heavy-handed implementation strategies that, in our opinion, will guarantee the complete dissolution of the rural volunteer fire teams that now exist to protect our Northern Ontario communities.”
“I think so, there could be serious affects to fire departments,” stated Mike Addison, Gore Bay fire chief. He said that in the case of Burpee-Mills there are several concerns. “The problem I see is that a lot of fire fighters will walk away and we will lose a lot of small volunteer fire departments.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: See next week’s Recorder for further coverage.
