Whew, must be getting hot at city hall, as after the Daily News report on Friday about potential legal troubles over the staffing issues at the Fire Department, the municipal government rang their own alarm bells for a rebuttal.
The Fire Chief Ron Miller offered the municipal response to the comments of Lorne West, the firefighter’s union vice President, who set off the flare up with his comments to the News on Friday. Miller did an admirable job of protecting the integrity of his department and its firefighters. And to be fair, the debate around town has never singled out the Chief or the department for any perceived lack of protection or disregard for public safety.
In fact, probably of all civic services the fire department is the most highly regarded, considering the job they do and the conditions that they work in. With a history of huge fires in this city over the years, the fire department and its members have a pretty special place with the population of the city. Any issue that affects them gets the public’s attention pretty quickly, as the mayor and council have thus learned.
The real target of the backlash would be city council which has used its budgetary requirements to shape the nature of fire protection in the city, reducing the previous four man teams to three, calling into question the response time requirements and ability to enter structures under WCB guidelines.
For his part the Mayor seems to be digging his heels in. Stating in the Daily News article that “the city would never put its employees, or the public, in an unsafe environment”, and suggesting that the tempest is more about bargaining than anything else “We’ve got good protection, we’ve got good firefighters… but clearly the union needs to bargain and that’s their role and we respect that.” From there he compared the firefighter issue to the concept of safety in general, using a rather peculiar analogy of posting guards at every street crossing to make things safer. It was a comment, which seems to dismiss the gravitas of the fire staffing policy and concerns of the union.
He finished off his comments by stating that the three man rule would not be revisited by council, which may be his desire and indeed his final word, but public outcry may make him wish he hadn’t said no to a review.
Frankly it seems a rather strange platform to make a stand on. One would think that a clearing of the air on the issue and a simple presentation of the facts for the public would go a long way to diffusing this issue. Not to mention making those that live here and pay the taxes, feel a little more secure about the services provided by its municipal government.
The municipal response makes for interesting reading, but we doubt if it’s the final word on the situation, even if the mayor wishes it were so.
CITY TRIES TO PUT OUT BLAZE OVER FIRE SAFTEY CONCERNS
Chief Miller says Prince Rupert is being protected by the very best
By James Vassallo
The Daily News
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
City officials say they’re insulted by allegations that they would condone unsafe working practices for firefighters.
“I read Friday’s paper and was very disappointed in the accusations,” said Fire Chief Ron Miller in response to comments made by International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) vice-president Lorne West.
“Our fire department is one of the best in the province. Our response times are amongst the very best. Our employees are amongst the very best – as is our training, equipment and just about anything else you can mention.
“That’s what Prince Rupert deserves, that’s what they get and for someone to phone from out of town to suggest differently is totally out of line.”
West and the local fire fighters executive are concerned that a 2004 city resolution, which sets the minimum number of on-duty fire fighters at two persons, is putting the public at risk because they say four people are required under WCB rules to enter a burning building. In practice, three fire fighters are usually scheduled with a fourth called in from home if there’s a fire. The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) believes this creates a delay that compromises public safety and that of firefighters – who have been trained to enter a burning building regardless of the number of the people standing beside them – and that the policy is in violation of WCB rules.”
“That is totally wrong,” said Miller. “Furthermore, to suggest that we encourage or condone unsafe work practices is insulting, particularly to me as the chief and a firefighter. It is absolutely insulting and nothing could be further from “the truth.”
The city contends WCB does not regulate or mandate the number of firefighters required for a response, but it has rules for building entry that state “where fire fighters must enter a building which has a contaminated atmosphere (smoke), the initial entry must be made by a team of at least two fire fighters.” The city adds the regulation also requires at least one additional fire fighter to remain outside to act in a rescue capacity for the entry team.
“This procedure meets all British Columbia Worksafe (WCB) requirements,” the city said in a press release.
“This does not mean that we do nothing until the additional personnel arrive on scene,” said Miller. “Exterior fire fighting operations are permitted and are immediately initiated by the initial response crew.”
Mayor Herb Pond added that the city would never put its employees, or the public, in an unsafe environment.
“What we’re talking about … is that a three man crew can only do certain things and have to depend of a fourth arriving. In the meantime, the deputy chief and the chief fulfill that fourth role and are on the scene very quickly,” said Pond.
“We’ve got good protection, we’ve got good firefighters … but clearly the union needs to bargain and that’s their role and we respect that.
“But council’s role is public safety and we’re comfortable that the level of protection provided to the public in Prince Rupert meets or exceeds the standards in any other similar community.”
According to the IAFF, fire fighters must reach a fire within the first five to 10 minutes to have a chance at either saving someone or attacking the blaze, rather than just containing it. The international union adds on-call situations move the response time to beyond the 12 minute range and raises the question of what level of delay is acceptable.
“I suppose if we were to position crossing guards at every crossing in Prince Rupert we could raise public safety, there’s a lot of things we could do.” Said Pond, noting the city did look at the legal liability issue and believed there is none.
“The challenge of choosing priorities, particularly priorities for expenditures, is looking at something that is acceptable to the public.
“I would suggest that today in Prince Rupert we have a level of protection that is higher than many communities our size and the public is well protected and we’re comfortable with that.”
However, the legal liability issue may not be so cut and dry. After the Daily News’ first story on Friday an anonymous package was delivered with two letters from 1992 detailing warnings from lawyers Boyle and Company to a fire chief in the Okanagan about staffing and time response issues. The lawyers note “if it were shown that the city knew or should have known that its equipment or its staffing was deficient then that would be sufficient to establishing liability at common law as the foreseeable result of an act or omission.”
The Municipal Insurance Association of B. C. added “it would appear that potential delays in responding to emergencies as a result of the number of personnel required to perform various assignments … could expose the city to additional property losses, personnel injuries, WCB fines (if applicable) and liability for third party loss.”
However, Just v British Columbia outlines that a municipality can be taken to court only for an operational decision and not a policy decision… generally one that involves deciding how to use public money… unless it is “unreasonable.” Therefore a potential lawsuit against the practice would likely have to show that the current system employed by Prince Rupert is an unreasonable risk in light of an expected delay critics argue exist with the on-call system.
Prince Rupert Fire Rescue has now fought 20 structure fires under the three man system.
Pond said the rule would not be revisited by council.
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