Concerns in North Battleford about reducing the number of firefighters

by battlefordsNOW staff

The president of North Battleford Fire Fighters Local 1756 is worried public safety could be at risk as a potential 25 per cent reduction to the number of full-time firefighters could be in store.

Both the union and the city remain in negotiations.

The cut would affect four positions, according to union president Chris Walls, two of which have been vacant for some time as the city has decided not to fill them. The reduction will leave the department with two or maybe three full-time firefighters at the ready at any given time.

“We have tried to justify to the city as to why we need them. We have given them the stats and given them the data and explained why it is important to public safety and our safety and it just seems to fall on deaf ears,” he said.

Walls said the reduction to two or three full-time members would limit more than just the amount of work each firefighter undertakes, but the type of work, too, due to safety standards.

For instance, he said industry standards dictate that two members must be both outside and inside a home before they can make entry to douse flames or rescue individuals to allow for an adequate response should something go wrong.

The department operates as a composite, with both full-time and paid-on-call volunteers. Walls said it can take the volunteers upwards of 15 minutes to arrive on scene where the full-time members are there within minutes.

“That is why we have gone to the public, hoping to rally some support and explain to the citizens what this actually means to them in terms of their own public safety,” Walls said.

A reduction from 16 to 12 full-time members, Walls said, would take the department’s staffing levels below many other comparable municipalities. This would come as they have operated with two shifts undermanned for months as vacant positions were not backfilled.

“We are here to serve the City of North Battleford and all the citizens here and we put ourselves in harm’s way to protect them when the time comes and hopefully they will come and help us out in this situation,” Walls, who is also a firefighter, said.

He said two staff were issued letters that said the layoffs would come into effect on Sept. 1. The union’s website, local1756.com, urges residents to contact local lawmakers and speak out against the move. They have published the names, phone numbers and email addresses of each member.

City Manager Randy Patrick said the city remains in negotiations with the union and any decision is yet to be seen.

He said the department was made aware of a $369,245 shortfall on April 22 and that cuts would be needed to make up for it to limit tax hikes.

Patrick said two major fire contracts were lost in the last year. One was to provide services to the new Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford and a second with the Rural Municipality of North Battleford.

These amounted to around $300,000, which is the equivalent of a little over a two per cent tax increase. He said a well-trained firefighter costs upwards of around $100,000 per year.

We are in discussions with the union about all sorts of issues around costs and total costs,” he said. “That is where it sits right now.”