BARRHEAD - There is a lot more documentation and paperwork required in the running of a fire department than people realize.
That is what Barrhead Regional Fire Services (BRFS) fire chief Gary Hove told Town of Barrhead and County of Barrhead councillors during their joint meeting Dec. 9. Hove was asked to come to the joint meeting to discuss concerns regarding the fire department’s proposed 2020 budget and three-year capital plan.
At regular intervals, the town and county councils meet to discuss programs that the two municipalities run jointly or are of mutual importance.
The largest portion of the meeting is devoted to dealing with budgets of departments and organizations in which both municipalities help fund. This year the BRFS proposed budgets and capital plans, which had already been endorsed by the Fire Services Committee (a joint committee consisting of members of both municipalities) recommended that both councils ratify all three documents, which Town of Barrhead councillors did at their Nov.19 meeting.
However, County of Barrhead councillors expressed reservations during their Dec. 3 meeting about two items of the department’s proposed budget, the increased hours of the administrative position (going from 32 to 37.5 hours per week) as well as the cost of sending BRFS members to an international firefighting conference and tabled ratification until after the joint council meeting.
Councillors later in the meeting approved Hove’s presentation as information.
Hove said the increase in administrative hours was due to the increasing amount of paperwork required of fire departments.
“Fire departments in the past were somewhat immune to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS),” he said. “Over the past few years, that is changing, with the number of cancers on the rise, and the introduction of Bill 30 [Occupational Health and Safety Act] that requires departments and municipalities to look after the psychological well-being of members.”
County manager Debbie Oyarzun asked why the added administrative clerk hours were necessary and how they helped in the running of the department.
Hove said the added clerk hours would help him and deputy chief Ted Amos free more of their time to devote to the day-to-day operations, a lot of which is spent dealing with Occupational Health and Safety issues.
After a typical callout, such as a motor vehicle collision, there is about four hours of paperwork, which is basically just data entry.
“This position does all that,” he said. “And this has been a slow year. Typically we respond to well over 300 calls.”
Hove added the administrative clerk also deals with much of the documentation for emergency planning and budget coding.
County of Barrhead Coun. Darrell Troock said that in his mind it did not explain the need for the extra hours.
“When we created the position of deputy chief, at first it was part-time, and when we made it full-time, that was supposed to handle all the extra hours required for paperwork,” he said.
Troock specifically referenced the creation and updating of the department’s Standard Operating Guidelines (SOG) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as the reason why the deputy chief’s role was expanded.
Hove agreed, stating as deputy chief much of his time was spent on SOGs and SOPs, and that did not stop when he became chief.
Noting the deputy chief’s energy is devoted to SOGs and SOPs as well, in addition to being in charge of the department’s in-house training program.
Hove added a lot of his and Amos’ time is also spent on vehicle maintenance, something that wasn’t happening under former fire chief John Whittaker.
“We are just trying to eliminate some of that data entry time and put it where it should go, like occupational health and safety,” he said. “You are asking people to deal with difficult situations, going into a burning building, or extricating someone dead inside a vehicle, and I have to do everything I can to make sure they go home physically safe but with their mental well-being in mind.”
He said the latter is especially important.
“As chief, I am a lead counsellor. I have people coming into my office talking about how a certain call is affecting them,” he said.
He noted the administrative clerk and firefighter Gina Hofstra also has training as a counsellor and talks to firefighters in distress.
Reeve Doug Drozd then switched topics asking Hove to explain why he felt attending the FDIC (Fire Department Instructor’s Conference) in Indianapolis was necessary.
“What I’m hearing is that you can take that $14,000 and spend it on counselling for your members,” he said.
Hove said he considers it an extension of a firefighter’s training, noting the first two days of the conference are devoted to training.
The 2019 FDIC featured 27 hands-on training classes, and 91 workshops, over 200 classrooms, over 850 Exhibitors. It was attended by over 30,000 firefighters from 53 countries.
“In addition to coming back with new techniques and ideas, they come back refreshed,” he said, adding he also uses it as an extra incentive for members.
To be eligible for the trip, firefighters have to have all the certifications and courses BRFS offer.
Town of Barrhead Coun. Don Smith said he agreed with Hove that sending select members to the conference was beneficial to the department.
“The fire service is so important and these volunteers are doing the job for pennies for what they have to do,” he said. “To have a full-time job and then go out at any hour of the day and see things that none of the people in this room want to see. It is a small price to pay.”
Smith also noted to accommodate for the trip, Hove reduced spending on other budget items.
Town of Barrhead mayor Dave McKenzie interjected that it is easy when people see the word “conference” to get the impression that it is a vacation.
“They are a lot different than the ones we go to as elected officials,” he said, nothing he went to several similar conferences in his RCMP career. “You are learning how to protect your community and keep yourself alive.”
Troock wasn’t convinced of the importance of the conference.
“They are going to do the same job whether they go down there or not. They are not going to hold a grudge because we are trying to cut the budget.”
Earlier in the meeting Troock, referred to the challenge of maintaining services while receiving less tax money, in large part due to energy companies who are in arrears to the tune of $1.4 million.
It was expected County of Barrhead councillors will revisit the BRFS budget on Dec. 16.
