Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Most NWT communities, large and small, share a common challenge - attracting enough volunteer firefighters.

Fort Resolution Fire Chief Arthur Sanderson stands next to the community's fire truck on July 30. He put up posters asking for volunteers but has received no response. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

In Fort Resolution, Fire Chief Arthur Sanderson has put up posters for many months to encourage more volunteers to join the community's fire department, but with no success.

"They've been up for over a year and I haven't got a call yet from anybody to volunteer," he said. "That's how hard it is in this community."

Sanderson said it's not because people are unwilling to help in times of emergency.

When there's a fire, people want to be involved, he noted. "Everybody wants to jump in there and try to do something, but no one is trained to do it. But everybody wants to run there and start busting windows."

The fire department in Fort Resolution has 11 volunteers. A few, such as Sanderson, have been with the department for more than 30 years, but there have been no new members in at least a year.

The fire chief said 11 volunteers are enough for a functioning department, and usually six or seven trained firefighters respond to an incident.

However, he said he would feel better if more joined the department because many current members are often out of town working or travelling.

Sanderson said he heard the same story, especially from smaller communities, during the annual fire chiefs' conference and training symposium in Yellowknife. The next conference will be held in early September.

"It seems like every community is like that," he said. "They have a hard, hard time to get people."

NWT Fire Marshal Steve Moss tells a similar story.

"Recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters is an issue across the country and even down into the United States," said the official with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).

Moss said there are many demands on a person's time these days, making it more difficult to attract volunteer firefighters.

Plus, he noted only a certain percentage of the population tends to volunteer, meaning larger communities such as Yellowknife have a greater number of people to draw upon, while smaller communities have fewer possible firefighters.

"There are only so many people that are capable physically of firefighting," he added.

Moss estimated there are between 300 and 400 volunteer firefighters throughout the NWT - in every community except Colville Lake which doesn't have a fire department for its population of 147.

A healthy fire department for most of the 26 smaller communities would require about 20 volunteers, the fire marshal said. "Because then you've got enough people that when people are in working at the mines or in the oil industry or on holidays or whatever they're doing, you have enough people to still function properly."

Moss said the NWT's larger fire departments - in Hay River, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Fort Smith and Fort Simpson - probably require between 20 and 30 firefighters.

About half of Yellowknife's firefighters are professionals and a couple of communities have full-time fire chiefs.

Larry Noland, the new fire chief in Aklavik, is also looking to increase the number of firefighters on his department and plans to put notices around the community calling for volunteers.

"I am just going to try to recruit some more volunteers and have a longer list of people so we can get some training and get equipment for them," he said.

Currently, the Aklavik department has about eight firefighters who come to meetings and have equipment.

"It would be good to have probably 12," said Noland, who became fire chief on July 1 after several years on the department. "Because there are a lot of people that go out hunting and travelling."

In Enterprise, Fire Chief Craig McMaster, who also became fire chief last month, noted there was some trouble retaining volunteer firefighters in the past.

"Right now, we've got lots. I think we're up to eight," he said. "So we've got good involvement and a lot of good interest. So we want to keep that up."

Eight may not seem like a lot until you consider the population of Enterprise is just under 100.

McMaster said the interest may be because the hamlet council - of which he is a member - has put money into the fire hall and new gear.

The fire chief said the more volunteers the Enterprise department can get the better.

Moss said there are some things MACA is doing to promote volunteering for fire departments.

A fire protection strategy is being updated and upgraded, he noted. "One of the components we're looking at is recruitment and retention of firefighters within that."Plus, he said the Fire Service Merit Awards recognize dedicated and long-serving firefighters, along with improved fire departments.

"We are hoping that it helps, but chances are people don't join just to get a pin or a medal," Moss said. "They join because they see a need and there's always a need in every community, and because it's something that they want to be part of."

MACA offers training programs for every aspect of the fire service.

Moss has seen the fire service change since the early 1980s, when he explained it had a social club type of atmosphere.

"There was a huge social aura of being on the fire department, and in recent years it's moved to more of a kind of business atmosphere," he said. "It's all about the training and all about the preparing for the response and the social activities are outside of the hall."

The fire marshal believes that change has negatively affected the number of volunteers.

"It's wonderful to give up your time and there are an awful lot of dedicated, committed volunteers out there," he said. "But at the same time, for the retention side of it, there should be things that make them feel like they're part of the group and sort of rewards that come back to them."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.