Rankin Inlet (Mar 17/04) - Fighting fires in the Kivalliq region is a losing battle all too often.

Kivalliq regional fire marshal Tim Hinds said the seven hamlets are at a big disadvantage simply because they're serviced by volunteer departments.

Volunteer firefighter Samson Amarudjuak and Rankin Inlet fire Chief Rick Penner, right, conduct a routine equipment inspection at the fire station. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Hinds said the first hurdle is the amount of time it can take volunteer firefighters to arrive at the scene of a fire.

He said by the time volunteers are notified, get to the fire station, travel to the scene and get set up, the damage has already been done.

"Fire can spread quickly, especially with some of our older buildings that have dried out over the years," said Hinds.

"It's not unusual, when I'm looking at fire reports, to see that a building was quite involved (with fire) before the fire department even got there."

Proper training is an ongoing challenge in the Kivalliq because of the high turnover of volunteers.

Quite often, a firefighter will be trained to a certain level and then move on.

Hinds said Nunavut has a much higher turnover of firefighters than the south.

"It's a volunteer issue because there's no pay involved in this.

"Some hamlets grant a token honorarium, but that's it. It's a community service."

The actual number of volunteer firefighters also varies significantly in each hamlet.

Some communities may have up to 25 volunteers, while others make do with eight or nine.

Up until this past year, the fire marshal's office (FMO) booked basic training sessions and advanced courses such as fire investigation.

That changed with the advent of the Municipal Training Organization, which now handles the administration and logistics of training sessions with support from the FMO.

Scheduling difficulties

Another problem with scheduling training sessions is the availability of local firefighters.

The FMO tried to schedule basic firefighting training sessions in Rankin Inlet during August and September of 2003, but the courses had to be cancelled due to a lack of response.

Hinds said Kivalliq residents shouldn't be worried over the difficulties involved with training local firefighters.

He said the main problem is the lack of input from communities on suitable times for training, leaving dates to be arbitrarily picked and hoping for the best.

A 10-day training course is being targeted for Rankin Inlet this coming July.

"If that doesn't work, we reschedule and hope for a strong enough response to enable us to get a few firefighters back into each community with some training.

"When people are available, they come to the training and they do well.

"The problem is keeping the expertise in the communities because of the high turnover rate."

Hinds said the territory is doing all it can to address the issue of aging equipment in a number of fire stations.

He said Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet are the only two Kivalliq hamlets without insulated pumps on their trucks.

"Your newspaper reported the problems encountered with a front-mounted pump on the fire truck in Whale Cove recently and that community is on our list for an equipment upgrade.

"We've already replaced the majority of those old pumps, but Whale is one of the last because it has one of the newer models.

"The fleet is on a 20-year replacement basis, so Whale is really not due for a replacement until 2006 and Chester in 2007."

Perform full inspection

A mechanic was sent to Whale earlier this month to perform a full inspection on the pump and conduct training with local firefighters to reacquaint them with its usage.

"I wish I could buy a whole new fleet of fire trucks and have everybody trained on them. But, even if that were so, the reality of firefighting in the North is that sometimes there's nothing you can do by the time you get there.

"The best scenario is that the people have been evacuated and the surrounding structures protected."