Firefighters’ union warns staffing near ‘unsafe level’

A union official is calling on the City of Brandon to increase its fire services funding after resources were stretched thin last week.

Brandon Firefighter Paramedics Local 803 union president Gage Wood said the city needs to speak with the union and up its funding to become more on par for firefighting with other cities across the country.

On Friday, Brandon crews responded to a grass fire just south of the city, where three people experienced minor injuries, including one firefighter.

Five Brandon Fire and Emergency Services (BFES) staff responded to the fire at first, before an additional nine members and about 10 first responders from Wawanesa and CFB Shilo also helped control the blaze.

Four BFES staff were called in on overtime as other members responded to crashes, fire alarms and ambulance calls. BFES includes both fire and ambulance services.

“We are so far behind, it’s deplorable, quite frankly, and that’s why, on Friday, when we have a big incident, it’s being exposed,” Wood said.

Wood said firefighting resources are underfunded in Brandon, with less than six per cent of the city’s budget devoted to fire services. Comparable municipalities have between nine and 11 per cent going toward their departments.

“That just shows how far behind the city is in investment in its fire service,” Wood said.

“The city’s investment in the fire department has not kept up with the growth that we’re experiencing.”

Wood said the city needs to come up with a strategic plan on how it will fund the fire department, separate from ambulance, which receives funding from the province as well.

He said a dual service with fire and ambulance is the way to go, but that the city needs to pay its share for its responsibility.

“We need to be recognized as the second biggest city in Manitoba, and our emergency services need to reflect that for the safety of the citizens and my members,” Wood said.

He said the union isn’t trying to cause panic or fight with the city, noting it isn’t in a bargaining period.

“We’re just saying we don’t have enough people, and this is getting to an unsafe level.”

The union said on Facebook Monday morning that it had reached out to city council twice in hopes of raising concerns and improving service long term. It hadn’t received an official response as of the middle of the afternoon.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the city is aware there is an issue and is working closely with BFES and Shared Health.

“We’re hoping to see what kind of proposals come back, and then we’re going to deal with things,” Fawcett said late Monday afternoon.

He said the proposals would at the earliest be dealt with in the city’s 2027 budget next January.

“We’ve been working on it and hope to have a resolution to some of these things shortly.”

Asked if the city could have room in future budgets for additional firefighting resources, Fawcett said: “Those are discussions to be had. Things have to be proposed … That’s the way it works.”

In the short term, he said the city is hoping Shared Health can come up with solutions.

BFES Chief Terry Parlow said five staff responded to the fire in the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis at 1:28 p.m. on Friday. The fire was put out at 10:45 p.m.

Crews from Wawanesa and Shilo were also called in, as is typical, he said.

“It was an extremely busy day after … 1:30 when the call came in. We responded to an additional six ambulance calls up until (6 p.m.),” Parlow said.

After 6 p.m., the night shift started and responded to an additional eight calls, though Parlow said those staff members weren’t as affected by the grass fire.

Parlow said the response to the grassfire was done in a typical manner, with only five members responding at first.

“We stagger a response like that. Once the officer knew what they needed, then we actually sent more staff and we actually called in staff,” Parlow said. “We’re never taking away from the City of Brandon while we’re doing these things.”

BFES is working with Shared Health and the city to increase staffing levels, he said.

“We’ll have some good discussions here going forward. But as for this response on Friday, that is a normal response to send five staff out to a grass fire regardless of how many staff we had in the hall that day.

“That is our normal, everyday response.”

He added that a grass fire could have fewer staff responding if crews are dealing with a more important structure fire at the same time.

“If we have a structure fire in the city, that takes precedence over even a rural fire.”

The fire was accidentally set by someone near the Brandon Gun Club who was burning cardboard, Parlow said.

Meanwhile, rural crews also dealt with a large fire in Riverdale Municipality over the weekend.

Firefighters from the Riverdale Fire Department, Whitehead Fire Department, Rapid City Emergency Services and the Wallace District Fire Department tackled a fire for 13 hours Saturday and into Sunday morning, and again later in the day on Sunday.

The fire was about three miles wide and 2.5 miles in length, Riverdale deputy fire chief Jim Duthie told the Sun.

“We had lots of help when it gets in the bush like that, because you’re in there with backpacks and side by side with tanks on the back to fight the fire,” Duthie said.

Crews put out hot spots on Sunday, along with other smaller fires in the area.

Some rain over the weekend also helped, he said.

One household was forced to evacuate because of the fire, but no injuries were recorded and no major structures were lost. Evacuees were able to return home later on.

Volunteers, including people from colonies, farmers and a worker from Johan’s Construction also helped fight the fire.

The volunteer with Johan’s Construction helped create cut lines to stop the fire from spreading, while Sioux Valley First Nation Safety Officers aided in evacuations.

Duthie said the heavy winds didn’t help. He also called the response “pretty hectic” as crews tried to save structures first.

“Definitely a big shout out to all the farmers and fire departments for coming to help.”

Some municipalities in Westman have also enacted fire bans because of the dry and at times windy weather.

» alambert@brandonsun.com