When paid-on-call volunteers take over from career staff at night and early in the morning, Sooke Fire Rescue fails to meet an eight-minute target, according to a district report.
Data shows the response time for the first unit to respond to a fire or medical emergency ranges from two to four minutes while career staff are on duty and up to 12 to 14 minutes when first responders have to be called from home or work.
In a Fire Master Plan report to Sooke district council, Dave Mitchell of Dave Mitchell and Associates said the slower response times are endemic throughout the province as municipalities grapple with composite fire departments using career and paid-on-call (POC) volunteers.
B次元官网网址淭he en route times for emergency incidents such as fires, alarms ringing and medical responses are consistently much greater when the career staff are not on duty at the hall,B次元官网网址� Mitchell said.
Most fire departments measure success by making it to at least 90 per cent of emergency calls in less than eight minutes. The clock starts when the call reaches the station and ends when the first fire truck pulls up to the scene.
B次元官网网址淭he goal is to arrive before the fire extends beyond the room of origin, and thatB次元官网网址檚 about eight minutes,B次元官网网址� Mitchell said, adding beyond that is where a fire quickly spreads leading to structure loss.
The provinceB次元官网网址檚 rural areas are most affected by slow response times.
Sooke Fire Rescue has a service area of 84.9 kilometres, with volunteer firefighters living in all areas of the district, contributing to the slower response times.
B次元官网网址淲e canB次元官网网址檛 ask people to live near the firehall, or is it expected,B次元官网网址� Fire Chief Ted Ruiter said.
The report suggests revising the departmentB次元官网网址檚 staffing model to provide firefighters at Hall No. 1, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to offset the long response times, which could lead to more career firefighters.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a cost pressure, and how do we address those gaps,B次元官网网址� Mayor Maja Tait said.
The Sooke fire department has an operating budget of $2.3 million. The total volume of calls to the fire department went up by 26 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sooke council initiated the Fire Master Plan study to help guide the fire department through the next 15 years of population and growth.
A review of all aspects of the fire department was conducted to ensure performance standards and guidelines were current and in compliance with provincial regulations.
The work conducted by Dave Mitchell and Associates was lauded by council members, who called it a B次元官网网址渟olid and thorough report.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not the opinion of one person, but a fact-based well-researched document,B次元官网网址� Tait said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not because the fire chief wants more career staff. There is grounded data here that explains why we need to add positions and its rationale.B次元官网网址�
In the 154-page study, Mitchell includes 41 recommendations designed to advise council on the fire service and identify mandatory compliance issues.
B次元官网网址淥ur goal is to protect Sooke,B次元官网网址� he said.
READ:
B次元官网网址�
editor@sookenewsmirror.com
Like us on and follow us on
