Adair takes the helm as new Lethbridge fire chief

By Trevor Busch - Lethbridge Herald on January 7, 2022.

Herald file photo - Greg Adair speaks to reporters as Emergency Management co-director during a 2020 COVID briefing at city hall.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtbusch@lethbridgeherald.com

Looking inward for the right fit, the City of Lethbridge has announced the selection of deputy chief Greg Adair as the new chief for Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services.
“I’m very honoured and excited to be taking on the role of chief for the City of Lethbridge,” said Adair speaking to media on Thursday. “I accept this responsibility, and this new job, and am looking forward to leading this department into the future.”
Adair will be addressing several projects, including securing a long-term ambulance contract with Alberta Health Services, continuing to advocate for EMS dispatch services to be provided by the local Public Safety Communications Centre (PSCC).
“Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services is a very busy and complex department” continued Adair. “We have a number of significant pieces that are ongoing and will be in the years to come. I look forward to leading our department through some of these times, which will include projects such as securing a long-term Alberta Health Services EMS contract. I will continue to advocate for the EMS dispatch services to be provided out of our PSCC centre here in Lethbridge. We strongly believe that we do a phenomenal job of dispatching from Lethbridge, and we’ll advocate to get that business back here in Lethbridge.”
Adair has been with Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services since June 2017. He moved to Lethbridge following a 20-year paramedic/firefighter career with Red Deer Emergency Services, which included eight years as deputy chief. He also has advanced care paramedic experience, 10 years of wildland firefighting with Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) – and he was the City of Lethbridge’s Interim Director of Community Services from June 2020 to March 2021.
“Our first responders in Lethbridge deal with many adverse events daily,” said Adair. “The mental health and well-being of our employees is paramount in the success of our department. I’ll be focusing to ensure that we can provide mental health and physical health supports to ensure that our staff will be able to respond to whatever emergency they face.”
Adair wants to ensure that the department has the proper resources in place to meet the needs of the city, as well as effective placement of fire halls for response times.
“Our service continues to get busier. Every year we increase by 5-10 per cent, our call volumes never seem to slow down, and with things like our opioid crisis, of course our COVID response and work complexities to our service, we just need to make sure we navigate through those effectively going forward. One of the next things I’m going to focus on is ensuring we have the correct resources for our individuals, so that we can respond to whatever emergency lies in front of them. When we talk about resources, we have to ensure that we have the proper equipment, we have the proper training, and we have proper fire station placements throughout the city to ensure timely response to the emergency situations.”
Adair will start in his new role on January 12, which will allow for a transition period with retiring Fire Chief Marc Rathwell whose final day will be February 11.