Ken McMullen is the president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and fire chief of Red Deer, Alta. Tina Saryeddine is executive director of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management.
While the fire service prefers to respond to alarms instead of sounding them, there is an urgent need to bring attention to the state of fire and emergency services in Canada. This country is relying heavily on a volunteer fire service that is seriously overburdened during wildfire season and during the rest of the year. Training and equipment have fallen behind the times. We are adapting to climate change too slowly. The issues are predictable and the situation is unsustainable.
What’s needed isn’t new, but it is more urgent. The wildfire season is now starting earlier. Hot and dry conditions could expand the risk from wildfires into new areas. The fires are now spread out across multiple communities and provinces, limiting the interprovincial sharing of resources. Communities are built further into forested areas, and where once provincial wildfire agencies handled these incidents, they are now calling on firefighters from local fire departments to help. Most of these are volunteer firefighters, who are also needed in other emergencies.
What can be done? Canada needs to stop the hemorrhaging of volunteer firefighters by sending a clear message: they are needed, recognized and appreciated. The Canadian military and international firefighters are important, but our 90,000 volunteer firefighters are the backbone of fire and emergency services in their communities. Increasing the volunteer firefighter and search and rescue tax credits from $3,000 to $10,000 would help. Costed by the Parliamentary Budget Officer at $171-million over five years, the price tag is far less than the billions needed to replace volunteer firefighters with career firefighters, not to mention fire losses.
We need to restore our cache of equipment. Consider that the International Agency for Research on Cancer reclassified firefighting as a top tier carcinogenic profession. We can’t have firefighters without the right protection. In 2013, a Public Safety Canada memo stated that it was sunsetting the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program, which covered training and equipment, because needs had been met. This is no longer true. This program needs to be brought back, as more than 40 per cent of fire departments have deferred training and equipment purchases because of budgetary constraints.
Given fire seasons are starting earlier, we need to get an earlier start on next year’s preparations. Canadians need to know how to protect their homes. A starting point is removing unnecessary materials that catch fire, from old leaves to exposed recycling bins. A comprehensive approach to risk reduction is available through resources such as Firesmart Canada to help communities increase wildfire resilience, but it has costs. Fire departments need the resources to educate communities and help Canadians get the job done. Builders, developers and insurers need incentives toward climate and fire safety considerations. Indigenous wildfire management practices need to be integrated into Western wildfire practices: They have been used effectively for generations and Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected by fires.
Federal and provincial funding is needed to properly train all volunteer and career firefighters who reside in Indigenous, municipal and local fire departments in a manner that ensures interoperability with provincial agencies. This will ensure that firefighters are available for rapid deployment when needed for the appropriate length of time and that the individuals trained remain active in the fire service when not required. Regular training and proper staffing are key to protecting physical and mental health.
Finally, all levels of government must co-ordinate. Currently, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre works across provinces and links to Natural Resources Canada. What’s missing are the municipalities, Indigenous communities, and the technically specialized Heavy Urban Search and Rescue teams. We need expanded interagency agreements bringing all stakeholders to the table. We owe this to each other, firefighters, and their families and community members, who are doing their best to follow directions and support one another. If we do all these things this year, we’ll be in a much stronger position to face next year’s fires.