Yellowknife (July 19/06) - Two senior firefighters have left a committee struck to implement safety orders imposed by the Workers' Compensation Board in response to the deaths of two firefighters last year.

Lieut. Mike Lowing left the committee June 21. Lieut. Craig Halifax quit the group two weeks ago. He is also president of the firefighters' union local.

When the committee was formed four months ago, it was comprised of three firefighters, the fire chief's office, and officials from City Hall.

Lowing declined to comment, but Halifax, who has been highly critical of fire hall management and its safety protocols in the past, said he simply doesn't have time for the committee any more.

The WCB handed down 12 safety orders to the city last February, almost a year after firefighters Lieut. Cyril Fyfe and Kevin Olson were killed fighting a shed fire, March 17, 2005.

Five of the orders remain incomplete so far, including demands for retired fire Chief Mick Beauchamp and his deputy Darcy Hernblad to undergo re-certification.

Beauchamp officially retired last Friday after spending the last four months on a leave of absence. Hernblad has been acting fire chief ever since.

All but one of the deadlines for the safety orders have come and gone, but Halifax denies leaving the committee out of frustration. "You can't always get what you want," said Halifax. "We pushed certain issues, and some things were accepted by the committee as a whole and some things weren't. It was too hard maintaining my position as lieutenant. As union president, I was finding it just too overwhelming, so I had to re-focus my energies."

Halifax said the group typically met once a week - often on his days off - for a two- to four-hour meeting. He said his role also required a fair amount of research.

He insisted that the union will remain active in ensuring the safety orders are completed and even surpassed. He said he wasn't sure if anybody else from the fire department would take his spot on the committee, saying there are "only so many people around here," and the process is "out of their hands."

He said one other fire union representative remains with the committee.

Both Hernblad and Dennis Marchiori, the city's director of public safety, say there is very little need to keep the safety order committee going, insisting that their work is nearly complete.

"We have a few individuals that were on the committee just working on the last few orders that we're trying to clean-up and get finished up," said Hernblad.

"We're making great progress."

Marchiori said Halifax and Lowing "did a stellar job" while on the committee.

He said the WCB has agreed to extend some of the deadlines on the remaining safety orders until the end of August.