THUNDER BAY – Municipal decision-makers remain confident in a plan to find savings at Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, despite warnings from the firefighters association that the plan will compromise the safety of their members and the public.
Thunder Bay Professional Firefighters Association president Dennis Brescacin told council Monday his members believe the planned elimination of a dedicated entry control and accountability position – which will allow the department to trim nine positions by attrition by 2024, saving an estimated $1 million a year – will compromise safety.
Councillors received that presentation in silence Monday.
“I was a little bit shocked they didn’t ask any questions,” Brescacin said.
Councillors reached Tuesday said the presentation, while valued, had done little to shake their faith in reassurances from fire chief Greg Hankkio that the plan would deliver savings while in fact boosting the department’s response to structural fires.
Coun. Andrew Foulds pointed out he had directly asked Hankkio if the plan would compromise firefighter safety when it was presented to council on Dec. 14.
“His response was clear [that] the plan wouldn’t be in front of council if it did,” Foulds said.
The plan would see entry control and accountability, one of 22 essential fireground duties and currently a dedicated position, assigned to a firefighter on scene by the incident commander.
The position accounts for the location and tasks of responding firefighters, and ensures they don’t remain on oxygen for more than 10 minutes while responding, Brescacin said.
The union leader says his members are concerned that placing those duties on a firefighter already assigned other fireground tasks could detract from their ability to properly carry out the duties.
“We’re viewing this as a reduction in the level of service, and safety as well,” he said.
Hankkio strongly rejected those assertions when reached Tuesday, calling the union’s objections “misleading to the public.”
“I do agree that firefighter accountability is a critical fireground task,” he said, but doesn’t believe the change in how it’s assigned will have any negative impacts. In fact, he said, maintaining a dedicated position for the task is rare.
“It’s very, very, very uncommon to have a dedicated entry control and accountability person in the fire service in the province of Ontario,” he said. “What we were tasked with doing was finding efficiencies within the fire service. We’ve done so without reducing the level of service, and without reducing firefighter safety.”
The department’s new response plan will in fact beef up its response to possible structural fires, deploying a fourth pumper and three additional staff, Hankkio pointed out.
While Brescacin acknowledged that change, he said it only shuffles existing resources around, and could leave the department shorthanded if a second alarm is called.
The firefighters association requested the city conduct a full community risk assessment before moving forward with Hankkio’s recommendation.
Brescacin said the association remained ready to discuss alternative cost-saving proposals with the department.
However, councillors reached Tuesday expressed little interest in reconsidering their endorsement of the plan presented by Hankkio.
