Council attention turns to prospect of full-time firefighters

Posted January 9, 2013

Tonight's budget working session is scheduled to include the tabling of a Fire Master Plan whose list of recommendations proposes hiring six full-time members of the New Tecumseth Fire Service at a cost of $303,324 in 2013, and $519,900 in 2014. Neither salary expenditures is factored into the draft budget.

The only full-time members of the department now are the administration - fire chief, deputy fire chief, prevention officer, and administrative assistant, who are stationed at the Joints Operation Centre in Beeton. The part-time brigade is 105 and includes 30 at Station 1 Alliston; 35 at Station 2 Beeton; and 40 at Station 3 Tottenham.

Firefighting apparatus consist of five pumpers, one 95' Aerial/ Pumper, 75' Aerial/Pumper, three tankers, six rescue vehicles, three emergency response vehicles for administration officers, one fire extinguisher training unit, and one mobile command post/fire safety trailer.

The proposed fire and rescue budget this year is $1.89 million operating, and $811,000 for capital.

Of the six recommendations presented in the Dillon Consulting report, the only one seeking immediate council approval deals with the full-time staffing. As presented, one crew of three would be housed in Alliston, while the other would be located in Tottenham, each working 42-hour a week shifts.

"Complements of three personnel at each of the two stations identified provides an appropriate staffing level to support a minimum on-duty staff complement of two personnel providing accommodation for vacation, sickness, and other absences," according to the Dillon report.

"The strategy recommended considers that an initial response of both crews would be deployed in order to achieve the best practices assembly for initial response of four firefighters and to reduce initial response delays resulting from increased turnout times. In our view this is a critical component of this strategy in responding to the recommendations fire service leaders and professional standard setting bodies that until a minimum of four firefighters have assembled at a fire scene, there are not sufficient firefighters on scene to safely initiate or make entry into the building to commence the rescue of occupants, or initiate interior fire suppression operations. If fewer than four firefighters arrive on scene, they must wait until a second
vehicle, or additional firefighters arrive to have sufficient staff to commence these activities. ..... This strategy provides the opportunity for the current Fire Prevention Officer under the direction of the Fire Chief to target enhanced fire inspection cycles and prioritize work load to areas requiring a higher level of expertise and experience."

The other recommendations, listed below, are recommended to be referred to staff for further review.

That the Town of New Tecumseth establish a performance measure target for initial response by the New Tecumseth Fire Rescue services of deploying four firefighters either arriving on the same apparatus or alternatively on scene approximately simultaneously to all reported structure fires, and that the department monitor this performance measure including reporting to Council on an annual basis;
That subject to the ongoing monitoring of the recommended performance measure target we recommend that the New Tecumseth Fire Rescue services assess the travel time and performance percentage objectives identified within the Fire Suppression Performance Targets (Appendix A) in developing further enhanced performance measures target for initial response;
That the Town of New Tecumseth establish a performance measure target for depth of response by the New Tecumseth Fire Rescue services of deploying fourteen firefighters to all reported structure fires;
That subject to the ongoing monitoring of the recommended performance measure target we recommend that the New Tecumseth Fire Rescue services assess the travel time and performance percentage objectives identified within the Fire Suppression Performance Targets (Appendix A) in developing further enhanced performance measures target for depth of response;
That utilizing the Community Fire Risk Assessment we recommend that emergency response protocols for occupancies identified as having high or extreme risk be developed to automatically dispatch additional fire suppression resources from the New Tecumseth Fire Rescue services or alternatively developing Fire Protection Agreements with neighbouring communities where necessary.

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