Fire Department vice chief argues union statement is misleading
The union representing Prince Albert’s firefighters says the Fire Department is failing to meet life-saving standards, but department leaders say the union isn’t presenting the whole picture.
On April 30, Prince Albert Firefighters Association IFF Local 510 posted a statement on their Facebook page criticizing leadership for not calling in backup crews during six of seven structure fires within Prince Albert.
Local 510 president Ben Hunter said firefighters are already pressed to hit the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) standard response time of four minutes because there is only one station in the city. Not calling in back-up crews, Hunter said, is adding to the pressure.
“We do have a lot of concerns for not only our members who are out there working these fires, but also the community,” Hunter said in an interview with the Daily Herald. “We feel the community is left at risk a lot of times and we don’t have the appropriate staff on hand to navigate through these emergency situations.”
In their Facebook post, the union wrote that Prince Albert was “left completely unprotected” during those six structure fires.
“(There was) no additional crew for another fire,” reads the post. “No immediate help for your family was ready to respond. Managing the risk is unacceptable.”
The union also urged residents to reach out to their city councillors to discuss the issue.
Hunter said concerns about staffing and the lack of a second fire hall have been a common theme among Prince Albert firefighters since before he joined the department. He said the issue ultimately comes down to money, and while he understands a new fire hall and more staff would be expensive, he said it’s worth it.
“It boils down to dollars. There’s a cost associated with having employees, but we feel that the City is left at risk without the appropriate amount of employees, especially firefighters,” he said.
“I hope that we would at least meet the (NFPA) standard at some point relatively soon. I know there’s a big cost associated with that, but we are the city’s insurance policy when things go wrong, and if we don’t have enough people to manage the emergencies going on then we’re not doing our jobs correctly. I feel, and the association feels, that we do need more staff here in a desperate way. We’re busier than we ever have been.”
Prince Albert Fire Department leadership disagrees with the union’s assessment. In an interview with the Daily Herald, City of Prince Albert Deputy Chief Alex Paul he was “a little perplexed” by the union’s post and argued some of the union’s statements were misleading.
Paul said the Battalion Chiefs in charge of assessing a structure fire didn’t call in back-up crews because the fires were quickly extinguished. Paul said their reports show each of the six structure fires the union mentioned were extinguished in two minutes at the quickest and 11 minutes at the longest. He said calling in a back-up crew would take between 30 to 45 minutes.
“If we can mitigate a fire and free up one of our two engine companies to respond in that two minutes to 11 minutes, we have them at our disposal far sooner than calling in an off-duty crew to come in and staff it,” Paul said.
Paul also said the Prince Albert Fire Department typically responds to structure fires with two trucks. If only one truck is needed, he said, it will remain on scene but is often free to respond should another fire occurred. Paul said the department also has a mutual aid agreement with Buckland Fire and Rescue, which provides additional coverage.
Paul also argued the NFPA standard of four minutes does not take into account time for the dispatcher to answer a call and gather critical information. He said it leads people to believe a firefighter arrives four minutes after a fire starts, and that’s not the case.
“At the best case scenario, you’d expect a firefighter to arrive within six minutes and 50 seconds, 90 per cent of the time,” he said.
“We don’t meet them 100 per cent of the time, but we do a very good job most of the time,” he added.
“I think the City is being proactive in looking towards improving the fire service, but all of that comes at a cost and it does take some time.”
In March 2023, Prince Albert Fire Chief Kris Olsen made a presentation on the need for two new fire halls in the city. At the time, Olsen said, Prince Albert Firefighters could only reach 5,625 civic addresses within four minutes, 47.1 per cent of the time. Olsen said there were 11,939 civic addresses in the City.
Since then, Prince Albert city council has identified two possible locations for new fire halls, while also establishing a reserve fund to pay for their construction.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
