Powell River resident affected by long-term firefighter shortage City councillor says no full-time firefighters have been hired in many years

 By MARILYN REICHERT

When Willow Baillie’s home in the Powell River suburb of Wildwood burned down in last December, it highlighted the coastal B.C. community’s ongoing problem with a shortage of firefighters.

After the fire, Baillie was dismayed to learn that Fire Hall No. 2, located across from her residence, has never had firefighters on site. It has always been staffed by volunteers.

“The current system is obviously struggling,” said Powell River Fire Chief Terry Peters. “Mrs. Baillie’s house would have been far less damaged if in fact that hall across the street from her -- literally across the street – was staffed… She lost everything.”

Built in 1949, Fire Hall No. 2 has always been what’s known as a “paid-on-call” facility. Paid-on-call firefighters are volunteers from the local community who are paid to be trained to a professional firefighter level, but not hired as staff.

They are alerted by pager to local fires and paid to meet on location. This is a common costsaving measure in smaller towns where the property tax base is considerably smaller than in large cities.

Peters has been with the Powell River Fire Department for 36 years. When he was promoted to chief in 2016, he knew the challenges regarding staffing.

“According to the National Fire Protection Act standards, four firefighters are required on a truck every time it rolls out the door,” Peters said. “We play Russian roulette with our staffing… if I get four, that’s a good day,” said Peters. “But most of the time, we are rolling out with two firefighters.”

Peters has brought the need for staff before city council on several occasions.

“It comes down to … firefighters cost too much,” Peters said.

Powell River Coun. Rob Southcott agrees there is a shortage, adding it has been “several years” since the municipality added full- time fire positions.

“To be fully staffed, we are talking significant amounts of money because each firefighter is worth about $175,000 to $275,000,” Southcott said.

“They are very well compensated, which is a bone of contention between their union and CUPE which represents the other 90 per cent of city employees.”

“The biggest priority is to find more volunteers … The fire department is beating the bushes constantly,” Southcott said.

Ryan Thoms, manager of emergency services for the qathet Regional District where Powell River is located, said: “These are very small tax bases that support these services. It’s a universal challenge, recruiting and retaining.” Thoms said there are eight fire halls in the qathet Regional District, which covers 5,000 square kilometres on the north Sunshine Coast and Texada, Savary, and Lasqueti Islands. But Fire Hall No. 1, the location of Peters’ office, is the region’s only hall equipped with career firefighters working two at a time on 12-hour shifts. The other halls are staffed with volunteers on pagers, Thoms said.

In Powell River, which has a population of around 14,000 people, “we don’t just have endless numbers of people to pull from, so we have to work really hard,” Thoms said.