Image: Danielle McCreadie
An increase in multi-unit residential buildings in Quispamsis and Rothesay is creating challenges for local fire crews.
Kennebecasis Valley Fire Chief Bill Ireland said the situation has highlighted an ongoing resource gap faced by his department.
“These communities have historically been a bedroom community for the city comprised of families living in single-family homes and that’s how this department was developed and grew and evolved was to be able to protect those,” said Ireland.
“I think it’s fairly obvious and intuitive that a bigger building has more people in it, it has more space, and potentially would have a bigger fire, and therefore would require more resources.”
Ireland said the gap between resources and risks is not new and has existed in the Kennebecasis Valley for several decades.
The region has many commercial, light industrial and professional service buildings which represent the same level of challenge, he said.
“It’s going to take more resources than we currently have working on any given period to be able to mitigate a full-scale incident there,” said Ireland.
But the department has taken steps to address the gap, he said, such as creating mutual aid agreements with neighbouring fire departments and recalling off-duty members in major events.
“It’s not reasonable or expected that we could go to council and say ‘we need you to double the level of staff we have next week because you’re building new buildings,'” he said. “It’s just not something that’s going to take place.”
Ireland said a major focus for his department this year will be surveying multi-unit residential buildings.
Pre-incident planning will allow his crews to be as prepared as possible in the event of an emergency, he said.
“Making sure we’re entirely familiar with how they’re occupied, what built-in fire systems are there in terms of their fire alarm systems and their automatic suppression systems, any hazards that aren’t apparent,” he said.
The department has also secured municipal funding to purchase new equipment specific to these types of buildings and to provide more training to ensure members to prepared to deal with calls in multi-unit residential buildings, he said.
In a joint letter to the towns of Quispamsis and Rothesay, Ireland highlighted a number of potential strategies going forward to help address the resource gap, which includes:
- Increasing department staffing levels by hiring additional staff
- Implementing a paid standby system for off-duty members to guarantee second-alarm response
- Implementing a paid-on-call system of reserve members to support firefighting operations and provide a workforce for safety and support positions
- Identifying buildings that would generate an “automatic aid” response from neighbouring fire departments
- Analyzing current fire apparatus and future development plans to assess future needs
Ireland said they are all for growth and development, but they want to ensure that protective services are considered so they can keep pace.
“I don’t want to sound like an alarmist, I don’t want people to be concerned that they’re unsafe where they live now,” he added.
Ireland said everyone has a responsibility — whether they live in a single-family home or an apartment building — to look after their safety. That includes ensuring you have a working smoke alarm, a home escape plan, and using caution when cooking, among other things.
“If we all do those things and are diligent, this won’t be a problem,” he said.
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