12/31/2024
'It's a (Port Moody) tragedy': Vancouver (Sun 23 Dec 2024)
Port Moody has announced the disbanding of its local volunteer firefighter association, which has provided the city’s firefighters with reinforcement during emergencies for more than a century.
“It’s a tragedy that the Port Moody mayor and council decided that after 111 years of service, our volunteers are no longer required,” said Tyson Nicholas, president of the Port Moody Volunteer Firefighters Association.
The city announced last week following a “detailed financial review,” the volunteer firefighters association — managed by Port Moody Fire Rescue — will not receive funding in 2025.
It said the decision was based on changes to provincial firefighting laws, reduced reliance on volunteers, limited training for high-risk tasks and the availability of backup from neighbouring fire departments.
“There were some hurt feelings,” said Nicholas.
Volunteers were informed of the decision two days after the city council approved the Fire Rescue’s 2025 budget, which didn’t allocate funds for the volunteer program.
Dispatched from the same fire hall and equipped with their own kits, volunteers support unionized staff in roles such as firefighting, vehicle incident management, wildfire response, post-disaster assessments, emergency operations, deployment and training.
“On Christmas Eve, there was a motor vehicle accident at Clarke Road involving a tanker truck with ammonia gas leakage concerns. Our volunteers would have been called to assist, but we weren’t given the option,” Nicholas said.
In 2023, the cost of 20 volunteer firefighters was $60,000, drawn from Fire Rescue’s operating budget of over $10.2 million, according to its most recent community report.
This year, the association’s paid on-call roster grew to 35, just short of the 50 firefighters employed by Port Moody.
“It costs more to employ one full-time firefighter than it does to fund our entire volunteer base,” said Nicholas.
Nicholas said many of Port Moody’s full-time firefighters started as volunteers, while others continue to work full time as doctors, tradespeople, entrepreneurs, lawyers or engineers.
The cutback comes as more B.C. municipalities shift toward unionized, career staff at fire departments, and move from the traditional volunteer and paid on-call models.
Bob Stevens, executive director of the Volunteer Firefighters Association of B.C., notes that the majority of North American firefighters are still paid on-call or volunteers.
In nearby municipalities like Anmore and Belcarra, fire departments are paid on-call. Ridge Meadows, Mission, and Abbotsford also continue to rely on some volunteers.
“Volunteers reduce the tax burden on the population,” Stevens said.
However, the job of a volunteer firefighter has changed. “Thirty years ago, houses didn’t burn as fast as they do now with all the synthetic materials they’re now built with.”
Both full-time and volunteer firefighters are tasked with additional responsibilities, including car accident and medical response, confined space rescues and handling hazardous materials, Stevens said.
In 2015, new provincial regulations set minimum training standards for volunteer firefighters, increasing costs for municipal fire departments. The changes, to ensure safety during high-risk tasks, follow the 2004 death of Chad Schapansky, a Clearwater firefighter killed in a restaurant fire.
“It’s a good thing the province has increased minimum training standards for volunteers. We don’t want people risking their lives or doing dangerous things,” Stevens added.
In January, the City of Port Moody said it plans to meet with members of the volunteer fire association to discuss other volunteer opportunities.
