Fire department seeks volunteers
Open house explores firefighting profession for eight prospective recruits
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, May 5, 2016
LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
An open house at the Fort Simpson Fire Department met with success on April 30 when eight community members showed up to learn more about what it means to be a volunteer.
Tyler Pilling demonstrates how to pull out the emergency stretcher from the back of the ambulance during an open house at the Fort Simpson Fire Hall on April 30. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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Current staffing levels are low at the department which just lost three of its key members in the past few months. Deputy fire chief Pat Rowe said the department only has about 11 people it can call on to respond to an ambulance call or attend a fire. Working a fire can take between eight and 12 people, he said, while ambulance calls are usually done with two people but can take as many as five.
He added the department's goal would ideally be to have 30 volunteers, although 20 would do the trick.
"In the past, we've had four to five people handling a majority of calls," said Pilling. "It's a tough load."
The majority of those calls are ambulance-related. Pilling said only one or two of those are usually trauma calls each year.
The department has a high turnover of volunteers. Pilling said having eight interested people show up to the open house was great, compared to the last open house the department held two years ago, where no one came.
"I was hoping for four people this time," he said.
"What our goal is, is to get some more middle people trained ... I'm not here to sugarcoat (the job) but we do need people. It's a necessary thing."
The fire department holds weekly evening training meetings every other Wednesday and trains a few weekends per year as well.
The department generally trains its volunteers on all necessary equipment - including the Jaws of Life, which Pilling said they have only had to use once.
"A lot of these things you don't use very often or hopefully not at all," he said.
And while training is relatively lax with volunteers going at their own pace, Pilling said he runs emergency calls "like military operations."
"(That's) mainly due to the fact that if people are doing their own thing, it doesn't work well," he said.
"We try to work on structure."
That means everyone has to know what job they are doing to respond efficiently to calls.
"There are jobs for everyone. If you can't pull a hose, you can do a different job."
Volunteer firefighters are on-call 24-7. However, Pilling said the department is fairly flexible for people who are working and cannot respond to calls or have other engagements.
As for training, Rowe said volunteers are encouraged to take as many opportunities as they want.
"The more you put into it, the more interesting it gets," he said.
Both Pilling and Rowe have spent decades on the fire department. Pilling marked his time on the department at 27 years. When he first started, he said, there was an average of one death each year. Since that time, the fire department averages only three to four fires per year as well as some false alarms.
Some of that is due to the department's fire prevention program while some is due to changes in the materials used to build houses, he said.
The department is in the midst of setting up a new training area which may be operational by next year.
Volunteers need permission from their employers in order to join the fire department.
