Published: April 03, 2013 8:00 AM
The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) board has directed staff to work with the South Cariboo fire chiefs to review the feasibility of shared rescue service scenarios.
The decision supports a recent South Cariboo Joint Committee recommendation that the CRD directors reviewed at their March 1 meeting.
100 Mile House Fire-Rescue (OMHFR) chief Darrell Blades had brought the proposal forward to the South Cariboo Joint Committee in early February, which then went forward to the District of 100 Mile House council the next day.
At that time, 100 Mile Mayor Mitch Campsall said that at first look, he thought it is a “great idea” for fire departments to work together, as these services are “literally overworking” the members.
Now, CRD chair Al Richmond says his board also supports the idea.
In his presentation, Blades noted his department takes the brunt of all highway rescue services, as the sole CRD fire department trained to perform those tasks.
Currently pushing 300 service calls a year, Blades explained OMHFR members undergo about 70-100 hours of training for basic firefighting skills, plus another 200 hours for anyone who may enter a building, 60 hours for highway and rope/embankment rescue, 40 for medical aid and often more beyond that, including refresher courses.
He adds this has “drastically” increased the demands on manpower, and led to difficulties with recruitment and retention of volunteers, especially on top of OMHFR having morphed into an “all hazards response agency.”
Richmond noted the various fire departments already share services and resources, so this would be an enhancement of that agreement.
“We do that seamlessly; we don’t exchange bills back and forth.
“What we’re trying to look at now are some specialized services, such as HAZMAT [hazardous materials] and highway vehicle rescue.”
OMHFR has both these capabilities now, but Richmond said other fire departments that are interested in picking up some of those skills can benefit from the training and the efficiencies of sharing these services.
“All we’re saying here with [services like] vehicle extrication is, let’s find some means of training up some other people and find some funding, so there is more certainty and it’s not just draining one particular budget in 100 Mile.”
The fire chiefs have been discussing the idea with the local governments outside of the boardroom for some time, Richmond added, so it is time for this to be narrowed down to budgets.
“Basically, now it has been pushed back to the chiefs to say ‘why don’t you work on a model, and come back with some solutions’. We’ve asked them to make some recommendations to us about how this would work, and how we might allocate some funds to do this because we want to make sure there is vehicle extrication [available everywhere].
“And, many of our departments look at the cost of buying the equipment, and the cost of training, and are saying ‘someone has already got the equipment, so why would we go around and duplicate equipment and duplicate training?’”
The other “big ticket item” for training is the HAZMAT, he noted.
“It’s too big a task for one department to do and to expect them to do all the training to respond to the whole region for hazardous material.”
If other departments have the training, Richmond said initial actions can be taken by those arriving first on scene, even if equipment follows with another department still en route.
“We’re trying to look at building those synergies of, one – not duplicating services, and two – providing those who want to do this … with an education opportunity to do more.”
This training also keeps members interested and encouraged in their volunteer work for the fire departments, he added.
