The biggest challenge facing the department today is finding enough volunteers says Barrhead Fire chief John Whittaker.
Whittaker made his comments during his quarterly report to County of Barrhead council June 19 and says while he would ideally like to have as many as 40 volunteers, right now the department has only 24.
“Right now we’re at the lowest we’ve ever been at. It’s all fine and dandy to ask someone to lend a hand for a few hours on the weekend but realistically, to be a firefighter, it is a large time commitment and getting people to come out is getting harder and harder,” Whittaker said.
“They aren’t leaving because they don’t like the department or we aren’t meeting their needs, it’s due to personal circumstances. We’ve done campaigns in the past where it’s been whole weekends, handing out information and we’ve gotten nothing for our efforts. We’ll get 12 people sign up and then lose interest because it isn’t what they thought.”
Whittaker said he would be happier with 35 to 40 volunteers.
“Many hands make light work. We’re increasing between 5 per cent and 9 per cent, in terms of call volume, per year. Our on-call crews consist of six people and when our firefighters aren’t on-call, unless it’s a real big deal, they aren’t coming in. I don’t blame them. Most of the calls we deal with, we can handle with six. It’s the structure fires, the house fires that take the 15 to 20 people. Those types of calls happen very rarely, but all the same, they do happen.”
In terms of training, Whittaker said the department holds regular two-to-three hour weekly sessions on Tuesdays and each weekend.
“Saturdays, we usually have one crew show up — five or six people, but on Tuesdays, it’s the entire department that turns out,” Whittaker said.
However, Coun. Darrell Troock said he thought the number of hours that are allotted for training should be reconsidered.
“When we’re looking at man hours and trying to keep our volunteers, I think that as a municipality, we’ve got to look at the amount of training that’s required and how much we’re asking of these guys. Training might only be an additional four hours, but if that’s 20 people, now you’re looking at 80 hours a week — there’s more hours spent on Tuesday night training than fighting actual fires,” Troock said, adding being part of the Barrhead fire department is not a full-time job and noted there’s a line between a volunteer and a paid worker.
“Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need behind what the department does and I don’t want to see it downsized at all, but I’m looking at what we’re asking of these volunteers and I’m concerned that finding the people to do this is going to get harder and harder. But these guys are knights in my eyes.”
For his part, Whittaker said the reason they train so much is to ensure the job is done properly and safely.
“We don’t train until we get it right, we train until we can’t not get it right,” he said.
Deputy reeve Dennis Nanninga pointed out that it is important to remember the county agreed to have a volunteer fire service.
“That’s what we’ve got and there’s only one alternative to it. Maybe years ago training wasn’t as important as it is now, but I believe it is necessary for them to be trained to a level of standard. The types of fires that are fought these days are not just some wood building somewhere, it’s all kinds of different stuff,” Nanninga said, adding while he isn’t sure of the answer himself, the fact that there is an issue that needs to be addressed and ought to be recognized.
“I don’t think we need a full-time department, because the cost outweights the benefit but a hybrid might work. If we had two or three people on the floor Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. when everyone else is working, that might solve the problem,” Whittaker said, noting he understood the frustrations felt by employers trying to run their businesses with volunteer firefighters on the payroll.
Whittaker said the idea has been floated around before.
“The question is where is the department going in the future? What are we looking for as a municipality? How best can we serve our community’s needs? Believe me, I wish there was an easy fix to this issue,” he added.
