City Council is preparing to ask the North Bay Fire and Emergency Services more burning questions on their controversial cost-cutting measures.
Fire Chief Grant Love’s recommendations to increase training efforts and establish a new Master Fire Plan were referred back to the Community Services Committee for more detailed discussion on Monday night after council’s unanimous decision to do so.
Love’s recommendations call for the reallocation of a portion of the department’s existing funding for a Chief Training Officer and Fire Prevention Officer, which he will be questioned on a fortnight from now.
“Whether or not council feels we need a full time training officer will be an interesting discussion,” Community Services chairman Mark King said on Monday night. “I know there are some differences around the table at this point.”
The training officer would be responsible for designing, co-coordinating, implementing and supervising the education-based instruction, while the prevention officer would be in charge of education initiatives, policies and programs.
“The reinstatement of the Chief Training Officer Position would increase the level of training of personnel and ensure the consistency of the training necessary to provide a safe and effective response to emergency incidents,” Chief Love stated in the report to council.
The Fire Services recently shifted their operations to what they call a Risk Management and Dynamic Staffing Model, which Love argues places an increased emphasis back on more consistent training and prevention.
Council approved those changes in mid-March, which gives the Fire Department control to manage their own staffing levels based on the frequency and severity of calls they are responding to, while continually defining the risks within the community.
The Fire Department claim that the number of actual fire calls has dropped by 60 per cent since 2004 and continues to decrease, justifying the dynamic system.
The changes called for a reduction to their minimum staffing levels to 13 down from 16 in an attempt to manage overtime costs. Two positions were also eliminated, bringing all four platoons down to 18 members through attrition.
But in light of those cuts, the Fire Chief is proposing the hiring of the new preventative positions.
“As the plan is to utilize suppression staff in prevention initiatives, there will be more pressures on more complex prevention issues which will require more expertise,” the report reads. “Fire Services is of the view investing in the reallocation of existing resources to provide for the creation of one additional Fire Prevention Officer is an important proactive step in making North Bay a safer community in the long term."
The cost-cutting changes, which caught some flak from the former Ontario Fire Marshal, reduced the fire complement to 72 from the 80 staff members they employed just a few years ago, putting them two years ahead of their suppression projections.
Another concern revolves around the 18 service members who are eligible for retirement within the next five years, placing even more emphasis on practical training for the younger staff.
“You get to the point, somewhere along the line, that you have to take a look at the actual cost of the operation,” King explained.
“We have to make some changes here, in my mind,” he added. “I see the opportunity now to start doing comparisons [to other municipalities], and I haven’t seen a lot of that since I’ve been at the council table."
King suggested comparing to cities like Guelph to see what models they have adopted and how successful they have been.
“This is a very, very contentious issue in my mind,” King concluded.
Fire Master Plan
Council also referred the preliminary stages of a Master Fire Plan report from Love back to committee, which is designed to address existing and anticipated fire risks in the community.
The report addresses emergency response, prevention, dispatch procedures, training and a list of other variables.
According to the report, the model for North Bay is to have 10 personnel on the scene of an urban single unit dwelling within seven minutes of dispatch, while six personnel are expected to be on the scene of a rural dispatch within 14 minutes.
Those response times are targeted to be achieved 90 per cent of the time, but are still an increase in overall response time.
Various sub-committees, including the operations, training, fleet and public education committees, have been established and are busy preparing their first report for presentations on July 8 and 9, in which they will identify any deficiencies in their current operations and recommendations to address them in the next three years.
Bimonthly information reports will also be given to council, with hopes of the final plan being completed by February 20, 2016.
@BertiLiam
