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A detailed dive into highangle technical rescue across changing urban landscapes. By
Jack Burton
TRAINING: Q&A WITH FIRE CHIEF KENT READMAN
A look at how the mandatory minimum certification standards rollout is going in Ontario.
By Julie Fitz-Gerald
BY LAURA AIKEN Editor laiken@annexbusinessmedia.com
C
COMMENT
Training to a level of confidence
onfidence is a coveted trait. People recognize high confidence and are drawn to those oozing it as quickly as they calibrate those without. Confidence is a prerequisite for leadership and critical for safety on the fire ground. Fire departments are keen to hire confident people, balanced ones anyway –arrogance and under-confidence are problems in equal measure.
In this edition’s Trainer’s Corner, Ed Brouwer discusses how to develop confidence in your firefighters during training, which he says comes from practicing the actual performance, rather than just talking about the act. Be as hands-on as possible in all aspects. Experience counts, and as experience builds in layers, it sheds scales of self-doubt.
hands-on repetition. High-confidence people believe they can manage the emotional or physical ramifications of what they face; they’ll get through it. Often it’s failure and life’s less peachy parts that have taught them that.
A successful
for
This hands-on nature of confidence building can be complimented by visualization. If you can see a difficult fire hall conversation taking place, and the outcome you desire, you are more likely to execute it with leadership, compassion and grace, knowing you have predicted the possible reactions and how you will handle them.
Fire Rescue Services. For more, turn to page 10.
But there seems to be much anxiety in the younger generations, and this is the kryptonite of confidence. A recent study from the University of Alberta found Millenials and Gen Z to be more anxious than previous generations: Half of surveyed millennials (24 to 39), said they left a job in part for mental health reasons and for Gen-Z (18 to 23), the percentage is 75, compared with just 20 per cent of the general population. The U.S. firm Harmoney Healthcare IT surveyed about 1,000 GenZers of and found more than one in two are struggling daily due to anxieties about the future (most common), finances, work, social activities and relationships. As far as the cause of the anxiety, the general public tops out at No. 1, then crowds, bosses and coworkers, acquaintances and family.
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Confidence can also be bolstered by way of self-care, such as good sleep, and while I believe it puts you in a better place, it’s not the trigger for high confidence. You can be exercising barely-a-wit of self-care in your hectic life and still pull off a high-performance function with confidence if you genuinely believe you can do it. I do not mean to diminish or disregard best practices of holistic health with cynicism, but merely point out that a high level of confidence needs reflection, visualization and
It may be incumbent on fire service leaders to consider further their role in building confidence, a task that may emerge as significant for workplace culture as younger generations continue to come up through the ranks.
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STATIONtoSTATION
ACROSS CANADA: Regional news briefs
Federal government considers updating fire fighting aviation regulations
A new motion requesting the federal government bring Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) up to international standards for airport rescue and fire fighting at major airports has been brought in front of the House of Commons. Adopting the motion would aim to give firefighters the mandate and resources necessary to reach the site of a fire or mishap anywhere on an operational runway in three minutes or less.
B.C. Liberal MP Ken Hardie introduced the private member’s motion M-96 and cited an assessment from the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) on airport fire fighting regulations,
THE FIRE HALL BULLETIN
Promotions & appointments
MATT FURLOT is the new fire chief in Esquimalt, B.C. He served with West Vancouver Fire Rescue since 2003 and his most recent role was assistant chief of professional development and training. Furlot is also an experienced training instructor in wildland fire fighting and urban interface structural pro-
tection, and he carries an ECFO designation.
BRIAN LARMAN is the new fire chief for the Inuvik Fire Department in the Northwest Territories. He spent the past 13 years with the department as a volunteer firefighter.
The Town of Diamond Valley in Alberta has TJ MOORE as its new
which found regulatory emergency response shortfalls that jeopardize public safety.
“People have been raising attention to the lack of a rescue mandate for at least 25 years,” he said. “We in Parliament have an opportunity to close the gaps.”
Currently, the regulations do not specify rescue as a required function of airport firefighters, and only require them to reach the midpoint of the furthest runway in three minutes.
In the event of an aircraft emergency, firefighters are only required to hose down a path outside the wreckage in the hope that passengers can rescue themselves or receive help from flight crews involved in the same accident.
If the rescue of trapped passengers is needed, the airport relies on municipal firefighters who may be 10 minutes away or more, which the IAFF said is well beyond the time when conditions would be lethal.
M-96 asks the government to amend the CARs to meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, which require rescue as a function of firefighters at major airports, and that they be resourced to reach all points on active runways in three minutes or less.
The move comes after delegates lobbied MPs on the issue at the Canadian Legislative Conference in Ottawa earlier this year.
Several MPs from other parties showed their support for the motion. Bloc Québecois MP Jean-Denis Garon called the gaps “shocking” and highlighted these shortfalls’ effect on public safety.
“Canadian airport firefighters can hose down a plane from the outside, but they are not allowed to go inside the plane. This is against the rules of the ICAO, which is headquartered in Montreal a few kilometres from our airports,” he said. “To be able to intervene in an aircraft, they need to have completed 333 hours of training. Municipal firefighters do not have this training, and they cannot get there in time. They lack the necessary resources.”
fire chief. He has worked in emergency services for 18 years in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
STEPHAN DROLET will now lead Pitt Meadows Fire and Rescue Service in B.C. Drolet brings more than 20 years of experience to the role, having began his fire fighting career as a volunteer firefighter for the department. Drolet also has nearly 30 years of experience
in municipal, provincial, and national policing.
The City of Stratford, Ont., has promoted NEIL ANDERSON to the role of fire chief and director of emergency services. He has served as the city’s deputy chief since March 2017 and acting chief since July. Anderson brings 30 years of experience in the Canadian Armed Forces to the role, having served as fire chief at the base in Comox, B.C.
Firefighters at the scene of an incident at the airport at night. PHOTO:
Canadian Wildfire Conference brings together ground and air leaders in Kelowna
About 250 vendors and attendees came together for a new national wildfire conference co-hosted by Fire Fighting in Canada.
The inaugural Canadian Wildfire Conference took place in Kelowna, B.C., from Oct. 25 to 26. The event is a partnership between the media brands Fire Fighting in Canada, Canadian Firefighter, Wings and Helicopters
An appreciation dinner was hosted at Summerhill Pyramid Winery on Oct. 25 with about 150 personnel from ground and air services in attendance. Sponsored in part by Waterax, the dinner also served as a fundraiser for SickNotWeak, an organization dedicated to mental health awareness. The evening included a keynote presentation by broadcasting personality Michael Landsberg, founder of SickNotWeak.
Around 250 vendors and attendees gathered for the
conference at KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence on Oct. 26, which featured 50 booths and multiple air and ground vehicles for wildfire suppression positioned on the KF Centre ramp. The static display included a truck from Perimeter Solutions highlighting ground applications for long-term fire retardants as a resource when aerial solutions are not available at night, alongside Safetek Profire’s Wildland 3 and Commercial Emergency Equipment’s BME Fire Trucks’ Sawtooth Type 6 Extreme Wildland Apparatus. There were also two wildfire protection trailers.
The conference program began with an air and ground interoperability panel featuring Michael Benson, director of
business development for Conair Group; Sean Rickards, director of operations for Yellowhead Helicopters; Greg Adams, air attack officer for BC Wildfire Service; and retired Hope B.C., Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy.
Topics ranged from labour issues and cross training to creating clearer communications and the prospect of developing a national wildfire force. The latter issue did not hold much weight with the panelists, who cited a range of logistical issues, but all agreed Federal support for additional capacity and resources is key. Indeed, the 2023 wildfire season, noted as the worst in Canada’s history, could have been even more devastating if it was not for a lack of wildfires in the U.S. this year.
The interop panel was followed Deploying Resources for Structure Protection with speakers Scott Cronquist, structure protection specialist for SPS-138 Wildfire Service, Ministry of Forests, and Brittany Seibert, emergency program coordinator for the City of Penticton. They went through a range of advances and strategies being deployed, including a look at massive water systems and
tactics to deal with ever more aggressive wildfires.
The afternoon panel discussion on innovation and advanced tactics for wildfire suppression featured Wayne Coulson, CEO of Coulson Group; Thomas Hoppe, owner of drone operation 43 Degrees North; and Mike King, chief pilot of White Saddle Air, and covered fires from the air at night – a unique capability in the world led by Coulson in the U.S. – and pinpoint drops via GPS positionin and early warning systems.
Paul Fletcher and Hope Nelson of Drone Amplified finished the day with a technical session on using IGNIS for aerial ignition. The integration of drones was a common theme throughout the day.
The new Canadian Wildfire Conference was sponsored by: Venue Sponsor KF Aerospace Centre for Excellence; Platinum Sponsors Perimeter Solutions and Safetek Profire; Gold Sponsor Airbus; Silver Sponsors Bell Textron Canada, Canadian Propeller, Conair Group, Consolidated Turbine Specialists De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Motion and Vallfirest; and event specialty sponsors Commercial Emergency Equipment and Portage Aircraft.
Retirements
specialist for the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal.
Retirements
fire chief, and in 1995, he was named deputy chief. He was promoted to fire chief in 2008.
RANDY ISFELD retired from the Williams Lake Fire Department in British Columbia on Aug. 31. Isfeld joined the department as a volunteer in 1976. In 1988, he was hired as the fire prevention training officer. A year later, he was appointed assistant
The City of Oshawa, Ont., appointed MIKE BARLOW its new deputy fire chief. He began his career as a firefighter in 2007 and most recently held the role of acting captain. Barlow won the Durham A.M. Kiwanis Firefighter of the Year award 2018 for helping to organize and bring the Canadian FireFit Championships to Oshawa. He is expected to oversee the professional development and suppression divisions.
Last Alarm
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KEVIN DUNCAN, deputy fire chief in Greater Napanee, Ont., has retired after nearly 30 years. He began his career as a volunteer firefighter in 2006 and served as a fire prevention officer before becoming deputy chief in 2022.
Department in 1984 and was promoted to fire chief in 2002.
Last Alarm
DOUG OUTTRIM, instructor at the Ontario Fire College, retired in November. Outtrim joined the Dundas Fire Department in Ontario as training and fire prevention officer in 1976. In 2000, he was hired as fire chief for the South Bruce Peninsula Fire Department. A year later, he joined the Ontario Fire College.
Saanich, B.C., Fire Chief MICHAEL BURGESS will retire in January. He began his career in 1989 and has spent more than 30 years with the department, including the past 13 years as chief. Burgess worked as a fire suppression firefighter for the first 15 years before being promoted to fire chief in 2010.
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Fire Chief RICK RICHARDSON retired after nearly 40 years in the fire service. He began his career with the Mapleton Fire
JANET TAYLOR died Sept. 15 after a brave battle with cancer. Taylor was a volunteer firefighter with the Pouch Cove Volunteer Fire Department in Newfoundland and was the former chief of the Sable River Volunteer Fire Department in
Nova Scotia. Janet had been an active member of the Fire Services Association of Nova Scotia and the Maritime Fire Chiefs Association.
JOHN HEASLIP died June 22 at the age of 82. Heaslip was the fire chief for the Dunnville Fire Department in Ontario for many years. He was a past president for both the Firefighters
Former Olds, Alta., Fire Chief LEONARD BRANDSON died. Joining the Olds Fire Department in 1967, he served more than 50 years, becoming deputy fire chief and then chief from 1988 through 2000. A leader among his peers, he received the Fire Exemplary Service Medal in 2018.
PHOTO: ANASTASIA IVANAVIV
BY CHRIS HARROW Director of Fire Services
Town of Minto and Township of North Wellington, Ontario
ILEADERSHIPFORUM
Late nights equal great ideas
attended the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ FireRescue conference in Halifax this September. The education and networking was excellent and can add to any chief officer’s career. During the pandemic, we all took for granted the chances we got to network with peers and discuss the latest in the industry with others. The later nights and long walks home from a networking session all added to the experience and the refreshing of a career that might be dragging you down.
Surrounding yourself with like-minded people who share similar desires to better the industry can ignite the fire inside you that might have been diminishing. It’s so easy to get bogged down in your day-to-day operations that you forget why you are in the industry. Refreshing your mental state and drive for success can be revived by simply surrounding yourself with progressive peers who have the same drive you do.
When you’re a driven individual trying to attempt new paths or different ideas, you can get bogged down when peers do not share the same enthusiasm or ideals. It can wear on you and diminish your continued pursuit of advancing your department. Attending a conference or educational session and immersing yourself with similar progressive people can be such a rewarding experience. The ability to discuss new ideas or programs can aid you in advancing your own ideas, or give you new thoughts for your own service.
Another huge benefit to attending educational sessions is that they can keep you updated on the latest trends in the industry. If you stay within your own district or county and forgo opportunities to listen to discussions on the latest topics, you can quickly fall behind. Fire fighting cancers, mental health, and recruitment and retention are all examples of the latest topics in the fire service. Listening to how departments across the country are handling them only adds to your ability to deal with them at your own department.
your faith in the overall industry.
I am by no means being doom and gloom and saying that those around you are bringing you down – many organizations have high functioning teams where everyone is moving together down a progressive path. However, an opportunity to get out and listen to new ideas from others outside of your normal group of peers can be so beneficial.
I read an article in Forbes magazine from December 2018 where the author, Jennifer Cohen, immersed herself among some of the world’s best entrepreneurs. She stated, “I was playing with winners – listening and sharing with these brilliant minds encouraged me to step up my own game.” Even though the article is related to the business world, its insights can also be applied to the fire service.
The author shared other insights from her experience, which include getting rid of negative people in your work life, finding people who are smarter and more experienced than you and cultivating real relationships with people who have already accomplished what you want to do. The last two suggestions are both byproducts of attending conferences and educational sessions, where the relationships you develop can be lifelong and really assist you in your career. Having people you can trust, rely upon and
Surrounding yourself with likeminded people who share similar desires to better the industry can ignite the fire inside you that might have been diminishing. ‘‘ ’’
One of the most valuable opportunities is sitting with these like-minded peers in a relaxed setting. The discussions seem to flow so much easier when the participants are not feeling the daily stress they do when at their jobs. Some of the greatest ideas I have been a part of have occurred in the evening over some adult beverages, or on the long walk home from a social event. The ability to let your guard down and let the ideas flow freely can be very beneficial, and also refreshes your mind and restores
Chris Harrow is the director of fire services for the Town of Minto and Township of Wellington North in Ontario. He is a graduate from fire programs at Lakeland College and Dalhousie University and holds a graduate certificate in Advanced Care Paramedics from Conestoga College. He can be reached at c.harrow@mintofiredept.on.ca
call for advice is so helpful. I have developed numerous friendships with different people I can call upon depending on the situation I am in, and it has been extremely helpful to me in my career.
There is no doubt the pandemic set us back in a lot of areas, with networking and learning opportunities being one of them. The trend toward online meetings is an effective time saver, but does nothing for faceto-face conversations and learning. With tight economic times, remote opportunities offer a way to manage time and cost. Still, don’t lose out on chances to attend and make those connections. Enough can never be said about the benefits to your mind and your career from surrounding yourself with similar, progressive people. Keep your mind open to new ideas and keep walking forward, you will eventually find the water which will guide you home.
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Success STOREYS
By JACK BURTON
Trapped for hours, hanging 10 storeys off the side of a tower amongst the bustle of a busy downtown intersection – what might sound like a climax from the latest blockbuster thriller was, for the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services (VFRS) team, an opportunity to successfully put their skills to the test.
On March 9, Chief Alberto Burrero and his team of battalion chiefs responded to an incident from engine nine around 1:45 pm. Upon their arrival to the scene at the Deloitte Summit building in downtown Vancouver, they received a rundown of the literal highstakes situation from the on-site contractor.
Hours before, a swing stage being used for a glass replacement operation on the side of the building experienced a double malfunction, leaving the platform stuck and stranding the workers dozens of feet above the street below.
A visit to the top of the building helped the team determine the best method of deployment for their high-angle rescue, but unique factors such as the design of both the building and the swing stage required the team to come up with new solutions in the moment.
RESCUE BY DESIGN
What would have been a standard lowering operation for the technical rescue team was complicated by the distinct shape of the building, with difficulties in determining the proper vantage point providing an obstacle to proceeding with business as usual.
“I think the biggest challenge that we had was that the building was shaped like an octagon – in a normal building, you can just look down and essentially work backward from the patients to your anchor points. It’s usually a very straightforward operation, but in this sense, it was quite challenging,” said Burrero.
Towering rescue achievments and tactics in the changing urban landscapes
ABOVE A double-malfunctioning platform during a glass replacement operation stranded workers 10 storeys up the side of a downtown Vancouver building.
The malfunctioned platform’s contemporary design was also new enough that Burrero and his responders had not encountered one of its type, and thus had to determine, in the moment, the appropriate solution for handling this issue, especially alongside the difficulties presented by the building’s shape.
“They had a very modern swing stage, so it took us awhile to figure out the logical procedures needed, as it was the first time I’ve seen something of this type,” said Burrero. “Once we figured that out, the process of determining exactly where to rig from took a little bit of time, because our edge person had to get into position, as due to the shape of the building, visibility wasn’t as easy as it would normally be.”
The team executed the standard procedure for lowering operations using a multipurpose device (MPD) as the main lowering line on a half-inch rope, backed with a tandem prusik belay alongside engineered anchor points rigged up top. Even with the necessary tools in place, the responders remained mindful of the difficulties presented by the shape of the building.
“To actually get the edge person to that edge to get a good look was a bit tricky – there was a bit of a parapet wall, where you had to go down to another landing, and he had to figure out from there, working back to our anchor points, exactly where the best straight line to get at the workers was,” said Burrero.
From there, the team used the MPD as a makeshift pulley system, raising responders up to the trapped workers and executing the lowering system to get them on the ground one by one, with some help from a three-to-one mechanical advantage system.
“We deployed a single rescuer on a main and a belay line, and just lowered him down to the swing stage. We did what’s called a pickoff,
where we just transfer them onto our system, raise them up from their swing stage, and then retransfer them back down through a lowering operation, all the way to the ground,” said Burrero. “We did that multiple times, and that was pretty much it.”
This operation’s success left Burrero with a pride for his team, along with a few lessons on the importance of investigation and information gathering in technical rescue operations.
For Burrero, the risk of unexpected circumstances that can appear in these incidents, such as the building shape and platform design, demand a team that can not only move quickly, but learn faster.
“I will say, the members of the team did a did a great job in terms of rigging things fairly quickly,” Burrero said. “But I think the biggest takeaway from this whole thing is that you’ve got to make sure you gather lots of information and investigate exactly what it is you’re dealing with prior to committing to something, as you may have to change from Plan A to Plan B.”
GETTING RESCUE-READY
Burrero believes this incident highlights the importance of knowing exactly what the problem at hand is before beginning to address it, a lesson that he believes both him and his team applied in the moment to drive the positive outcome of this rescue.
Identifying unique challenges as they come up, and gathering the information needed to react to these obstacles in real time is something that Burrero sees as integral to technical rescue success, especially in jurisdictions experiencing increases in urbanization and infrastructure construction.
23_007789_Firefighting_In_CN_DEC_CN Mod: October 20, 2023 8:17 AM Print: 10/23/23 page 1 v2.5
“Gathering information and investigating exactly what your prob-
lems are, is, first and foremost, probably most important,” said Burrero.
“Kudos to the team that was up there with me: they worked extremely hard to rig it very quickly once our edge person was in position, and from there, it was a very straightforward operation.”
A variety of skills are addressed in the VFRS’ technical rescue training program, including low, steep, and high angle rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench and excavation extraction, structural collapse and water rescues.
Despite this robust repertoire, as cities and their populations continue to grow, it is up to their fire department’s technical rescue teams to adapt to the directions that this growth may take.
“As the world changes, and as our city changes, we’re going to face a lot more challenges, especially with the amount of construction that’s going on,” he said. “The types of rescues we’re going to now, there’s your typical calls, but there’s also ones that are a lot more complex just because of the amount of construction that we’re seeing and the larger population, especially in the Vancouver area.”
These changes require a level of preparedness that demand responders to be equipped with a range of skills across a wide array of procedures and scenarios, guaranteeing their flexibility to deal with whatever direction a situation may take. Reaching the level of dynamism required, however, means proper training, and lots of it.
“There’s a multitude of skills that take a long time to develop, which requires a lot more training. It’s a daily, weekly, monthly process, following a very regimented program in all of the disciplines,” said Burrero. “We have a team that follows an accredited program in order to certify all the individuals go through a lot of proficiency skills training throughout the year, in addition to regulations by WorkSafeBC.”
The team currently follows a hard-scheduled program. Across their eight 24-hour shifts a month, members of the team aim to cover several training sessions per shift, addressing skillsets for specific rescue scenarios such as confined spaces, trenches and structural collapse.
Reaching this high level of preparedness can be difficult, not just in learning the high volume of operations and protocols, but also balancing the time to build out this necessary skillset with the unpredictability of on-duty calls.
“We try to run a fairly regimented, robust program to capture everyone as much as possible throughout the year, because you just never know when the call is going to come in,” said Burrero. “We’re not just focused on special operations, but a multitude of other things as well. It definitely poses a lot of challenges, because you have to get a lot done in a 24-hour period.”
EQUIPPED FOR CHANGE
The changes set to come from Canada’s growing cities and populations impact the necessary skill range for technical rescue, but will also shape the overall role and importance of technical rescue itself, said Shawn Howery, technical teams coordinator for the Calgary Fire Department.
“As populations grow and technology advances, the importance of technical rescue is likely to increase,” said Howery. “Natural disasters, urbanization and complex infrastructures necessitate specialized skills to handle diverse rescue scenarios.”
The diverse rescue scenarios that teams are facing in the wake of these changes makes reliance on standardized, boilerplate solutions difficult. Rather, Howery recommends looking to the safety needs specific to one’s city, jurisdiction or environment, and the appropriate tools to address the factors contributing to these gaps.
Howery highlighted Calgary’s Bow River as a distinct feature of the city that pushes technical rescue’s role beyond one-size-fits-all approaches: when the Rocky Mountain heat hits during the summer months, he said it is not unusual for up to thousands of Calgarians to float down the river in search of a much-needed cooldown, sometimes in inflatable watercraft of questionable safety.
“To mitigate this risk, the CFD’s Aquatic Rescue team employs four riverboats designed for shallow, rocky mountain river conditions, that patrol the waterway with from dawn to dusk. Many departments have one or two boats, but we have four specifically built to manage the size and type of risk in our jurisdiction.”
All departments share the goal of saving lives, but an equipment arsenal tailored to area hazards allows this goal to be achieved in a manner both relevant and efficient to one’s specific needs.
“Equipment, I think, is what varies the most from department to department,” said Howery. “This is based off of what your department risks are: the size of jurisdiction, types of industries, location, types of recreational activities, and most importantly, budget, all play a part in what type of equipment or apparatus is required to combat your risks.”
A curated collection of equipment and technology can go a long way in addressing the risks in a technical rescue team’s jurisdiction, but the impact of these tools is no excuse to forgo training, Howery believes.
“The rescuers of today and tomorrow have to continually adapt to new risks and the equipment designed to address them, so being open to new technology and non-traditional solutions for an ever-changing environment are a must,” he said.
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Hose Packs, Part 2 BACKtoBASICS
By MARK VAN DER FEYST
Continuing our study into the different hose packs that we have available to us, this month we are looking at the New York load. As the name denotes, this load was developed by the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and has been in service for many years as a staple in the FDNY’s tactical arsenal for hose deployment.
As with the Denver Load, there will be three bundles of hose packaged to make up the load. The three lengths of hose allow for adequate stretches from the standpipe to the floor below in most fire units. One length of hose is used to go from one floor up to the next, with the other two 30-metre lengths being used to advance to the fire unit or onto the fire floor. An advantage to three separate hose packs is that hose lengths can always be added on or decreased.
To pack the New York load, the hose is to be laid out flat on the tarmac or ground with both couplings opposite from each other. The first coupling will be picked up and placed alongside the other coupling, as seen in Photo 1.
An important step in this process is to orient the couplings for each of the three bundles in the same fashion to avoid connection issues later. For example, if looking at the hose from the middle of the fold in Photo 1, the female coupling will be on the left with the male coupling on the right. An easy way to remember this is to use the word “Fire Marshal,” with the letters “F” and “M” showing left and right for the couplings.
When the couplings are properly oriented, the middle of the hose is apparent and should be grabbed to be placed on top of the couplings. This section of the hose can be marked with a painted stripe or piece of electrical tape to help identify it when needed. In Photo 2, you will see the firefighter grabbing the middle of the hose, with Photo 3 showing this section placed atop the couplings. Positioning for the middle of the hose is important for ensuring proper deployments later.
As seen in Photo 4, from this position, the
Photo 1: Prepare a New York load by laying your hose flat on the ground, with both couplings beside each other.
Photo 2: An accessible middle section of your hose is key to a proper New York load, and can be marked to help you identify it when needed.
Photo 3: Placing your hose’s middle section atop the couplings ensures its accessibility during deployments.
5: When properly folded, each coupling in your middle section should be side-by-side for clear access.
hose will then be folded again on itself, with attention needed to ensure the hose stays flat on top of itself during these folds. The hose is then folded in half again, but with the couplings portion grabbed and folded back on top of the other half. In the end, the hose bundle will look as shown in Photo 5.
Photo 5 shows what the middle of the hose with the two couplings pulled aside from each other looks like. The middle of the hose should be placed exactly on top of the two couplings, with each kept side-by-side with hose straps. Only two straps are required to bundle the package. One hose bundle will have a nozzle attached to it and will be assembled in the exact same way as the other two bundles, with the exception that the nozzle will be lying beside the female coupling.
Your hoses are deployment-ready when all three bundles are completed, as shown in Photo 6. With the nozzle bundle on the side going to the fire floor or fire unit, the couplings can be connected to each other, with the last female coupling going to the water source.
An advantage of the New York load is compact hose bundles, which can be stored in the side compartment of an engine or truck by stacking them atop each other. This also means ease of carry, with bundles able to be transported on one or both shoulders. This compact load can also be brough into elevators by being placed on the elevator floor, with the firefighters standing on top of them.
The New York load is an easy, simplistic load to fold, deploy and store on a fire truck.
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is currently a firefighter with the FGFD. Mark is an international instructor teaching in Canada, U.S. FDIC and India. He is the lead author of Fire Engineering’s Residential Fire Rescue & Tactical Firefighter books. He can be reached at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
Photo 4: Keeping your hose flat during the folding process is essential to achieving the compactness that is characteristic of this load style.
Photo
Photo 6: A completed New York load is compact, simplifying carrying and storage for firefighters.
Q&A with Fire Chief Kent Readman
Looking at Ontario’s rollout of mandatory minimum certification standards
By JULIE FITZ-GERALD
It has been about 18 months since the new mandatory minimum certification standards went into effect for Ontario’s fire service. Kent Readman, fire chief of the Municipality of Huron East and the Township of North Huron and board member for the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, spoke with Fire Fighting in Canada about how the mandatory certification process is going, and what he’s seen from volunteer fire departments.
FFIC: As the fire chief of Huron East and North Huron, can you tell me a little bit about your fire departments?
Readman: In East and North Huron, we have two fully separate fire departments located in Huron County. We operate under a Shared Fire Chief Agreement, so I’m the chief of both, but they are two separate departments. In total, there are five fire stations staffed with about 115 volunteer firefighters responding to close to 350 calls per year. Our area is predominantly agriculture-based, and we’re roughly an hour north of London and an hour west of Kitchener/Waterloo.
FFIC: Being on the OAFC’s board of directors and having over 20 years of experience in volunteer fire fighting, with the past six years in the role of fire chief, what’s the biggest change you’re seeing when it comes to training firefighters?
Readman: I think the biggest change I’ve seen is that there’s more information than ever before. Technology has improved over the past 20 years, and now we have more access to information. We can build our operations and our training programs based on science and data – we didn’t typically do that before. We now have a much better understanding of things like modern fire science, firefighter health and safety, new vehicle technology and other hazards that our firefighters can potentially face on a daily basis. With the increase of the internet and YouTube, information is more freely shared and more accessible than ever before.
FFIC: How has that impacted training for firefighters?
Readman: In most cases, it’s made for higher-quality training. In a lot of cases, we’ve changed the way we train our firefighters using the science and the data, and explaining why we’re doing things.
FFIC: Mandatory minimum certification standards were introduced in Ontario on July 1, 2022. How has the rollout gone?
Readman: It’s all over the board right now. Some departments have been very proactive and started certifying their members prior to the legislation taking effect, so they’re sitting in a good spot. Other departments are unfortunately lagging behind a little bit, and are working
through the process. We still have roughly two and a half years, but that time will go pretty quickly for a lot of departments, and we all should have a pretty solid plan in place to accomplish this at this point, but I don’t think everyone’s necessarily there yet.
FFIC: What strategies have you used to get your volunteer firefighters certified?
Readman: We’ve taken an in-house approach to certification in most cases. There are some courses that we go external with, but we try not to as much as possible. A few examples: currently we’re utilizing a learning contract with the Ontario Fire College to put 13 of our members through the NFPA 1002 Pump-Ops Course. We have our own in-house instructors, we utilize the Ontario Fire College learning materials and online pre-course platform, we use our own trucks and equipment for the course and we’re able to keep all of our members in our community, so they can still respond if needed, and they’re at home every night of the course so we don’t have to send them out of town and pay for hotels. It’s keeping our people local. Another exam-
ABOVE Fire departments in Ontario have until Jul 1, 2026 to have their firefighters certified.
ple: we’ve also set up testing with Academic Standards and Evaluation (ASA) to come and complete our first round of NFPA 1001 level one testing in December. As part of this process, we utilize our members’ past training and experience, and then we supplement that with additional in-house training to give them the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. It’s not only for the testing, but operationally, we want them to understand what they’re learning. We’re not just prepping them to pass a test, we’re prepping them to be safe on the fire ground. Again, in this situation, we’re utilizing our own in-house instructors and experience to help our firefighters succeed while we keep them in their communities, so it’s the same idea.
FFIC: Did you face any resistance from them in terms of the time they need to invest?
Readman: There’s still some confusion around the difference between training and certification. The new standard is the certification, not necessarily the training. The requirement to train our firefighters to the level of service they provide has always been there under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. So, if your department’s been training to the proper standards in the past, then the certification requirement really only comes down to writing the test and completing some practical evaluations in front of an evaluator, so it’s not extremely time consuming. If your department has not been training to the proper standard or the levels of service they provide, then there could be an increased time commitment to become properly trained before you can go through that certification process. Currently, one of my departments has had a very well-developed training program for years, so they’re at the point where we can do testing at any time. The other department is lagging behind a little bit, so we’re working on improving the regular training programs to bump them up to where they need to be; they’ll be in a good position to do that certification in not too long of a time.
FFIC: For a department that has been training up to standards, how much extra time is needed to complete the certification?
Readman: With recruits who have no prior experience and are starting from scratch, we’ve been running a 250-hour recruit program. In speak-
ing with other chiefs, to meet the full certification training level, that’s where they’ve been at, is that 200 to 250 hours. But for our current members who’ve already completed half of that training, you’re looking at half that time.
FFIC: What do new volunteers think of the new requirements?
Readman: Overall, we’ve taken the approach where we’re very upfront during the hiring process, setting out the new requirements to make sure they’re prepared, so they know what’s involved and they know they’re getting certifications at the end of this. Overall, we’ve had a lot of success and recruits are, in my experience, embracing this. They’re looking at it as a professional qualification process, as opposed to a club that they’re joining to put in a little extra time and help their community out. They’re looking at it from more of a professional and safety aspect. Some are using it as a stepping stone to move into a full-time career because we’re giving them the same certifications as what they would get going to college and then paying for that education – we’re going to pay them for that education. So, it’s all in the way you present it, and you get the buy-in from the recruits. There’s the odd one that finds it’s more than they expected, but for the most part, we’ve had quite a bit of success.
This new regulation has given fire departments a reason to look at the services they’re currently providing.
FFIC: Do you feel there are enough mobile live fire training (MLFT) units in the province to accommodate the demand?
Readman: Currently there are two, which we know is not enough. Lots of departments haven’t had the opportunity to use an MLFT yet – they’ve applied and there’s not enough time to get people through. Our department had the opportunity to use it in June to complete some live fire training, and we were able to open it up to some of our
neighbouring departments in the area who were also able to use it, so that was great. In September, the province announced they’re purchasing two more MLFTs to fulfill the needs of the Ontario fire service. I think this is a huge step forward, and a big commitment to providing departments with the tools they need to meet these new requirements. The OFM is monitoring how many departments are applying for these, and how many are actually getting the MLFTs, so I’m confident if they continue to do this and expand the program as needed that the gap will be filled.
FFIC: How is the need to attain NFPA 1001 impacting other trainings needs, such as medical or technical rescue?
Readman: This new regulation has given fire departments a reason to look at the services they’re currently providing. If they take the new certification regulation and couple it with the new community risk assessment regulation, that allows departments to look at the risks within their communities and create a plan on how to deal with those risks. It’s an opportunity to educate the councils on the level of service they’re currently providing, the training requirements that go with them and if they meet the risk assessment within the community. If the risk isn’t there, do they need to be training on it or are there technical rescues that they’re training on, but don’t need to provide that service? Is there a need for a technical rescue and they’re not training on it? This is giving departments and councils a real push to look inside of themselves to see where they’re at, and where they need to be in the future. Council ultimately sets the level of the service, which then needs to be properly funded and equipped to provide the training to meet that level of service. Again, it comes back to how have they been training in the
past. If they’re meeting the training standards in the past, the certification part shouldn’t affect things too much. If they haven’t been meeting that training standard then they have to fill that gap.
FFIC: Do you have any advice to offer Ontario fire departments who are struggling to meet the requirements on a cost and attainability front?
Readman: Look at the different options that are available to do the certification process. The college can offer courses, there are regional training centres that offer the courses, which I understand not everyone has a regional training centre in their backyard, but work with the fire college to see what training options there are for your department. There’s the possibility of them coming into your department and teaching a course, there’s the opportunity to do a learning contract, which I’ve used a number of times for a number of different courses. If you have those trained instructors in-house, utilize them. Let them do the teaching and work with the college on a learning contract where they send you the material, you have your in-house instructors, they’ll set up ASA to do the evaluating and proctoring at the end of your course – that’s a nice way to keep your costs down and keep everyone in town. Developing a quality training program in-house is the best way to keep your costs down, within your own ranks and your department, that’s going to be key to your success moving forward. If you are struggling, the college and fire marshal’s office are happy and willing to answer any questions that chiefs might have out there on how to move this process along in their own department.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
TRAINER’SCORNER Developing self-confidence in your firefighters
By ED BROUWER
In 1889, American journalist and humourist Edgar Nye wrote that the Platte River “had a very large circulation, but very little influence. It covers a good deal of ground, but it is not deep, in some places it is a mile wide and three-quarters of an inch deep.” And so, the phrase, “A mile wide and an inch deep” was born. It is not meant to be a compliment. It is used to describe people whose knowledge is superficial.
Superficial as in not thorough, deep, or complete. Superficial as in not having or showing any depth of understanding.
For example, most firefighters should know that a “30/30 cross” means temperatures over 30 C and humidity below 30 per cent. However, if firefighters don’t know what it means on the fire ground, it is of little value to them. They must understand that a 30/30 cross means that fires will start faster, and they should expect severe burning conditions, erratic fire behaviour and rapid rate of spread.
One of the challenges that face us as firefighters is the lack of time. Unfortunately, my request for a few more grains of sand in the hourglass has fallen on deaf ears. Many “paid on call” fire departments are bound by time restraints to training and practice. The need to be equipped and trained beyond simply putting the wet stuff on the red stuff has jammed the training schedule.
It can be overwhelming for firefighters to get a solid grip on all aspects of fire and rescue training. With all the additional areas of response, such as MVIs, hazmat, high angle and swift water rescue, along with first response medical, it is almost impossible to effectively cover all the necessary training aspects in a once-a-week session.
Yes, our skills do improve with each call (our experiences hopefully do that), but we dare not use the call for on-the-job training.
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Hands-on experience is foundational to the confidence that firefighters need to excel.
In my first department, we set aside two nights a month to focus on FRIII training. It was only two extra nights, but it seemed to bring some relief to our (self-imposed) training schedule. Looking back, I see that it cost us precious family time. Two extra nights really meant four extra nights for the TO. When I hear the phrase “a mile wide and an inch deep,” I think of being spread too thin.
Here’s a thought: Your present stress load may be the result of over-commitment and under-ability.
To be honest, I did not shine in every area of instruction. Oh, I got them done, but it wasn’t always pretty. In some areas I was instructing way beyond my means. It drained me and it certainly wasn’t my happy place, nor was it for my students.
In truth, it became a burden, a chore. There is a big difference, between my “good enough” and my “best”. I encourage you to focus on what you do best, and delegate to others those areas you do “just because” they need to be done.
Our training programs usually focus on three things: skill development, skill mainte-
nance, and skill improvement. However, developing a person’s ability to perform the “core” skills is only half of the formula for effective training.
The critical factor is developing the self-confidence of the individual to perform those skills under extreme pressures and stress in hazardous environments, at any time of day or night. If you can focus on that, the rest will fall into place.
One way to achieve this is to actually use fire fighting equipment in your practice scenarios.
Realtors shout out “location, location, location.” Training officers should shout out “hands on, hands on, hands on.”
To successfully train FRIII, get hands on. Feel what it is like to set up a Headbed II with gloves on. Tape dressings in place.
I don’t buy into just laying a V Vac beside the patient and saying that you are suctioning. Do it! Use it! Get a cup of water or, better yet, some chunky soup, and suction away! How much will it hold? How do you clean it out? How did you get so much on you?
Don’t just say that you’d use this or that dressing, and this or that bandage. Use it! Actually check the vitals, don’t just ask what they are in your scenarios.
Take a few minutes at a practice and check someone’s pulse, respirations, and skin. Depending on your practice night, you may need to check LOC. In all seriousness, it pays to practice.
I have always tried to make practice scenarios as real as possible. Dry erasers work well. Ketchup stinks, but it’s okay. Transmission fluid in a zip lock bag works. Bone fragments from the butcher work well. And for a few bucks, you can buy medical alert chains. Get some old clothes so that the firefighter can actually cut the material. You’ll be surprised
what a confidence builder the “actually doing it” can be.
I’ll never forget the fearful look on one of my student’s faces when I asked them to actually administer the Glucogel, rather than tell me about it. This simple request became a big issue, because this student had never done any more than lay the package beside the patient. You cannot gain confidence in FR skills without being hands on. As trainers, we must renew our zeal to train to develop self-confidence. It is of paramount importance that firefighters know why they are doing something, as well as understanding the consequences of not doing something.
I remember approaching a firefighter spraying water on the outside of a burning structure. I asked him, “What are you doing?” He looked at me all nervous and replied, “Am I doing something wrong?” I shook my head. “No, I just want to know what you are doing.” He replied, “I can do something different.” Again, I said, “No buddy, I just want to know what you are doing.”
“I’m spraying water on the fire?” he said, but since his statement was more in the form of a question, I pushed a bit more. “Why are you spraying water on the fire?” Now he got flustered and said, “You told me to! Should I stop?”
I looked at him and tried rephrasing the original question in textbook terminology: “What effect are your present actions having upon the fire compartment?” He took a breath and said, “I don’t know.” I asked, “What would change if you stopped doing what you are doing?” Again, he responded with, “I don’t know.”
I wasn’t trying to mess with him. I was hoping to give him a better understanding of fire behaviour. So, as he continued applying water, we spoke about the Fire Triangle. I asked him what part of the triangle he was operating in. Then, I asked if he knew how effective he was being. He didn’t, so I instructed him to radio the pump operator informing them he was shutting down his line. Then we just stood and watched what the fire was doing. We looked at the smoke and discussed the basic smoke indicators: location, colour, density and volume. You cannot observe smoke indicators if you are just “drowning” the fire. You need to take a break – let the fire breathe.
It was a wonderful teaching moment. Looking him straight in the eyes I said, “I am sharing this with you for one reason.” He gave
a knowing smile saying, “I know, you want me to be a good firefighter.” I looked at him and said, “Yes, that is true, but more than that, I want you to go home after each and every call.” It seems we have lots of “book smart” individuals, but fewer and fewer of those “Jack of all trades, master of none” types. That term was a compliment for a person who is good at fixing things and has a good level of broad knowledge. You have a wonderful and yet challenging opportunity to change that. Just don’t spread yourself too thin.
Thank you for your dedication to excellence in the Canadian fire service. Until next time, please stay safe and remember to, “Train like lives depend on it, because they do.” 4-9-4 – Ed.
Ed Brouwer is the chief instructor for Canwest Fire in Osoyoos, B.C., retired deputy chief training officer for Greenwood Fire and Rescue, a fire warden, wildland urban interface fire-suppression instructor and ordained disaster-response chaplain. Contact Ed at aka-opa@hotmail.com.
BY TOM DESORCY Fire Chief (Ret.) Hope, B.C.
IVOLUNTEERVISION
Realities of retirement
’ve had the pleasure to be a part of a lot of firsts in my fire career, including being the first-ever paid fire chief in our town. Being the first-ever career chief in our volunteer department also meant that when I retired, I would also become the first-ever retired career chief in our department.
Fortunate as we are to be part of a municipal pension plan, I often looked ahead to the numbers in monthly reports showing the amount of money I would receive in columns stating first reserved, first unreserved and last unreserved when it came to retirement options. However, when you’re under 40, those dates seem so far away.
As I approach a year of being retired, I’ve been able to gather several thoughts on the process, effect, and aftermath of taking this big step. Then again, is it really a step, or just the evolution of a career? Oh wait, are we talking change here?
Many people look at retirement in general as the end, or better still, a new beginning. In the fire service, it can really feel like leaving your family. However, I think that with any small fire department, being the only career member at the time comes with an opportunity to set a precedent: it’s not about raising a bar but creating one that really hasn’t existed in the past.
By precedent, I mean that everything I do in relation to the fire department is something that will set the groundwork for the next person that retires, and so on. To that end, we have an operational guideline that guides the treatment of a retired member that is being updated to include the role that one may play once retired.
ourable and very humbling, it also serves an important purpose: you’ll find that everyone in the community knows that you’ve retired. Your current status has been announced to everyone, so no matter who you run into, you don’t have to explain what’s new. Believe me, it does make a difference.
In my discussions with colleagues approaching this same decision, the underlying theme is the same, and that is the fact that this change becomes permanent. Leaving what has been part of your life for many years can be frightening. Now being on the other side, it should be celebrated. The ceremonial turning off of the pager in my house was an incredible feeling.
So, have I left? Well, as evidenced by this column and our monthly podcast, no. I still play a role as a retired member of our provincial and national associations, and am part of a peer support team with the Fire Chiefs’ Association of BC and our department locally. Clearly, I have a new role and purpose that matters.
I proudly continue to contribute to the community through mentoring and training. We all have a duty to ensure that the next generation sees what lies ahead. There are many fire departments in Canada with a
You often hear from retirees that ‘this place won’t be the same without me.’ Frankly, it better not be. ‘‘ ’’
One of the things in this new world I live in is the fact that the public doesn’t understand what we go through, or have gone through, in our time as fire chief. Working on-call seven days a week in a small community, spending even your vacation time connected to the fire department and its community means you are a coiled spring, and leaving that behind is very sudden. It is a freeing feeling, mind you, and one that’s hard to describe, but very different.
Something else you’ll learn is that when a public figure retires, there is a series of recognition opportunities that come with it. While hon-
Tom DeSorcy joined the fire service in 1983 and became the first paid firefighter in his hometown of Hope, B.C., when he became fire chief in 2000, retiring in 2023. DeSorcy is married with children and grandchildren. He is equally at home at a bonspiel, on the golf course, or in the kitchen, and continues to enjoy his connections to the fire service. E-mail Tom at tdesorcy@telus.net, and watch for him on social media.
long history, and ensuring that history is maintained is part of the pride and ownership piece. It’s our job to maintain that history so we’re not going away anytime soon.
You often hear from retirees that “this place won’t be the same without me.” Frankly, it better not be. I see myself as not leaving, but simply making room for progress.
Too often, we see people “stale-date” in a position, putting succession in a position where it doesn’t have the opportunity to move in, and instead, moves on.
Many know my personal story, and that to “retire” is important to me. Remember that this shouldn’t sneak up on you. Take out that crystal ball and think about what retirement looks like – it’s never too early to plan for the future, whether that’s yours or your department’s.
