WESTLOCK – While they aren’t sounding the alarm bell just yet, the men who head the town and county fire services, departments which count more than 100 volunteer firefighters from Fawcett to Busby and all-points in-between, admit they’re in need of fresh recruits.
While Westlock County protective services manager John Biro and Town of Westlock fire chief Stuart Koflick agree that COVID-19 didn’t make things any easier for them in terms of recruitment, finding and keeping new members has always been a never-ending process.
As it stands the town is hovering around 20 members, up from 15 that’s been the norm for the last two years but still short of the 25 Koflick would like to see it eventually reach. The town has made a concerted effort throughout 2021 and into this year to drive recruitment with social media campaigns and posters spread around the community.
“I’m actually pleasantly surprised as my goal is to have 20 members by the end of this year, then 25 by the end of 2023 and maybe beyond that, if we can swing it, even 30. The larger our organization is on paper, the more available resources I have at any given time,” said Koflick, noting it takes about a year to get a new recruit trained to Level 1.
“COVID for us was bad timing. We had some people move out of the area which put us at a deficit and then nobody was interested in joining because COVID was everywhere. I think we’re back on track, but we’re not out of the woods yet. In some ways it’s like a garden — you plant it, you water it and weed it and harvest it and then replant it. Certainly, recruitment is always a constant struggle, but we’re not an island here as this is happening all across Alberta, Canada and North America.”
And while the county, which counts departments in Busby, Clyde, Pickardville, Jarvie and Fawcett, has around 80 active members, that’s down from a norm of around 95. Biro said the current state of the economy and the price of gas isn’t making things any easier as “it was tough to get volunteers before and now guys aren’t even sure how they’re going to put food on the table.”
“While there have been some positives of late, COVID really hit us hard as losing only a few members is a lot for some our smaller stations,” said Biro. “We’ve got a lot of really committed people, but they’re spread out across the county.”
Biro said interest “goes in waves” and no one knows when the tide will change. He also said recruiting younger firefighters is “tough” as many leave for the city and greener pastures after graduation.
“We’ve had it where a department will have 17 on the roster and it stays that way for five or six years and then all of sudden, they start losing a few and then there’s a lull and they become short staffed, but then another department’s numbers come up. Really it goes in waves,” said Biro. “Recruitment is difficult, but we’re not alone as many other municipalities are in the same boat.”
Koflick, who said with mutual-aid agreements between the town and the county there’s never a shortage of firefighters when there’s an accident or big fire, noted there are working groups within the Alberta Fire Chiefs Association to address recruitment. As it’s been stated before by both men, volunteering to be a firefighter is different than signing up to be minor hockey coach or being involved with a service club.
“We’re trying to engage (the provincial) government more strategically because we’ve lost a few things over the last couple of years, including the elimination of the Office of the Fire Commissioner which provided support to municipalities. Changes at the provincial level do have a trickle-down effect and the sense I got is that they (the provincial government) didn’t understand that,” said Koflick. “Large urban fire departments have the resources, but the small rural areas don’t. So, there is some movement on that front and I think they’re willing to listen.”
See more local 2022 Fire Prevention Week coverage here.
