Council approves hiring of eight new firefighters

By Lethbridge Herald on May 25, 2022.

Firefighter recruits work to contain a fire in an exercise with a flammable liquids prop in this file photo from a training session at the Lethbridge Fire Department Training Centre. Herald file photo by Ian Martens

Al Beeber – Lethbridge Herald – abeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge will soon see more firefighters on the job.

Lethbridge city council on Tuesday unanimously accepted a recommendation from its Community Safety Standing Policy committee to support hiring and training eight new firefighters this year.

The $884,000 cost of the new positions will come from unspent operating dollars, council was told Tuesday.

Ongoing costs estimated between $1 million and $1.3 million annually will be absorbed by Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Medical Services with no additional pressure on taxpayers.

The approved motion also contained an operative clause calling for council to support Option A: Parallel Service – Base Case which was one of four models it could have considered. This model provides fire and rescue resources “the availability to respond to medical emergencies and be available to engage, safely and effectively, in fire/rescue operations.”

As previously directed by council, LFES is in the process of transitioning from three-person to four-person fire apparatus, a transition that started last year to ensure there is a standard deployment of 24 firefighters on each platoon. That includes five four-person fire apparatus, a three-person rescue apparatus and one platoon chief.

The SPC also called on council to support Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Medical Services in its efforts to secure a long term EMS contract with AHS that makes sense financially and provides local residents an effective fire and emergency response model.

Council will also continue pursuing the reversal of the AHS medical dispatch transition as part of the motion.

A recent report made to the SPC by fire chief Greg Adair said a contract entered into with Alberta Health Services EMS in 2014 to aid fire suppression is no longer effective.

This is due to the fact EMS resources are fully committed to EMS events which leave limited capacity to support fire and rescue operations.

The report said the current model no longer represents the gold standard of fire/rescue response for city residents.

Moving to a parallel system requires more personnel to maintain the present level of service, said the report. EMS contract negotiations with AHS will start this fall and more funding from that provincial department will be needed to offset the cost of additional personnel for the fire department.

Adair’s report said numerous changes over the year are responsible for the present situation. Those include more long-distance transfers with call volumes increasing 20 per cent since 2015.

There has also been a 58 per cent increase to calls outside of Lethbridge since 2015 and a 47 per cent increase in EMS calls.

Other reasons include the loss of situational awareness of LFES ambulances because of the loss of EMS Dispatch services to AHS and the relocation of ambulances to outside communities when theirs aren’t available.

Staffing issues pose a significant issue to the LFES, say supporting documents for the resolution. Fire station 5 has been closed once due to staffing shortages.

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