The 2016 Fire Services Organizational Review, prepared for the CBRM by Manitou Incorporated, a consultancy based in New York State, is an incredibly informative document, and that’s high praise coming from someone like me who, as you know, is no fan of the Consultocracy.
There are two factors that, in my opinion, raise this report (for which the municipality paid $45,100) above the word salad that generally passes for consultants’ reports:
- The author(s) can write.
- The whole thing is based on actual data from our actual fire departments.
Fire Truck. (Source: Glace Bay Volunteer Fire Department Facebook)
I’ve admitted in these pages before that since returning to Cape Breton in 2010, I’ve been engaged in a sort of extended remedial education program to understand how the CBRM works (or doesn’t) and how it got this way, so for me, the fire services review reads like a textbook. As when, for example, it explains that the problem with the current fire services system is that “it does not meet the fundamental requirements to be considered a system, because it is not subject to any overarching direction or capability for unified action.”
At the root of this problem is a familiar culprit:
When the CBRM was formed in 1995, fire services were spared the process of amalgamation. Modest reforms in the administration of fire services led to the system as it exists today.
While some meaningful change has occurred over these 20 years, fire services remain a system loosely operating under an administrative structure that is not empowered to exercise control, nor are the services adequately funded to permit the Municipality to dictate the terms of service delivery. While the fire service structure that evolved following the formation of the CBRM established some centralized control over budget and rolling stock, it did not enable the Municipality to take an assertive role in establishing standards of service or even frameworks for reporting service delivery information.
The report both asks the CBRM’s fire departments to think and act more like a regional force while demonstrating why this can be so difficult. With the exception of the two stations in Sydney, which are staffed fully by “career” firefighters, and the stations in New Waterford, North Sydney and Glace Bay, which are “composite” departments, with one career firefighter on duty 24/7, the vast majority of our firefighters are volunteers, as you can see from the table below:
| Fire Department | Division | Department Type | Members | Service Area (sq km) | Equipment | Specialty Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Bridge | East | Volunteer | 23 | 218.65 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker 1 Boat | Medical First Responder Water/Ice Rescue Community Hall |
| Bateston | East | Volunteer | 30 | 155 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Big Pond | Central | Volunteer | 24 | 183 | 1 Pumper Tanker | Medical First Responder Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Birch Grove | East | Volunteer | 19 | 92 | 1 Pumper Tanker | Community Hall |
| Boisdale | East | Volunteer | 17 | 164 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Christmas Island | North | Volunteer | 18 | 234 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Coxheath | Central | Volunteer | 25 | 56 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Community Hall |
| Dominion | East | Volunteer | 31 | 9 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Donkin | East | Volunteer | 24 | 37 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Community Hall |
| East Bay | Central | Volunteer | 21 | 86 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Florence | North | Volunteer | 20 | 92 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Frenchvale Road | North | Volunteer | 21 | 98 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Gabarus | East | Volunteer | 12 | 284 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Water/Ice Rescue |
| George's River | North | Volunteer | 14 | 72 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Glace Bay | East | Composite | 40 | 30 | Pumpers 1 Boat 1 Ladder Truck | High Angle Rescue Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extraction |
| Grand Lake Road | Central | Volunteer | 17 | 164 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Community Hall |
| Howie Centre | Central | Volunteer | 20 | 68 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder |
| Louisbourg | East | Volunteer | 25 | 77 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Marion Bridge | Central | Volunteer | 28 | 373 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Mira Road | Central | Volunteer | 23 | 63 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Vehicle Extrication |
| New Victoria | East | Volunteer | 20 | 27 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker 1 Brush Truck | Medical First Responder |
| New Waterford | East | Composite | 28 | 12.6 | 2 Pumpers 1 Boat 1 Brush Truck | Water/Ice Rescue Community Hall |
| North Sydney | North | Composite | 31 | 40 | 1 Pumper 1 Aerial Truck | Medical First Responder Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Northside East Bay | North | Volunteer | 15 | 1 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Port Morien | East | Volunteer | 21 | 97 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker 1 Utility | Medical First Responder |
| Reserve Mines | North | Volunteer | 21 | 43 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Scotchtown | North | Volunteer | 21 | 18.7 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Vehicle Extrication |
| South Bar | Central | Volunteer | 19 | 42 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker 1 Utility | |
| Southside Boularderie | North | Volunteer | 18 | 132.7 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder |
| Sydney Station 1 | Central | Career | 15.72 | Pumpers* Aerial Truck | ||
| Sydney Station 2 | Central | Career | 12.71 | Vehicle Extrication Water/Ice Rescue |
||
| Sydney Mines | North | Volunteer | 31 | 19.6 | Pumpers 1 Tanker 1 Boat | Medical First Responder High Angle Rescue Water/Ice Rescue Vehicle Extrication |
| Sydney River | Central | Volunteer | 28 | 15 | 1 Pumper 1Pumper Tanker 1 Rescue Utility | Medical First Responder Vehicle Extrication Community Hall |
| Tower Road | East | Volunteer | 21 | 9.2 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Medical First Responder Community Hall |
| Westmount | Central | Volunteer | 19 | 41 | 1 Pumper 1 Tanker | Community Hall |
As volunteers, they not only give freely of their time to respond to incidents ranging from structure fires to grass fires to car accidents to floods, they also dedicate an increasing amount of that time to fundraising in support of their departments. (Which, in passing, seems to be the source of a lot of the lack of central control — it’s hard to dictate how departments are to spend money they’ve had to raise themselves.)
In this sense, they are like so many Cape Breton parishioners who, after years of work to keep their particular church opened, must close it and join another parish. Or the parents who, after years of work in support of their particular school, must watch it close and send their kids to a newer or bigger or more centrally located school next door.
It’s the story of the CBRM — and it’s the background to the Fire Services Organizational Review, the main purpose of which is to decide how to maintain coverage in the face of our declining and ageing population.
(What they are not like is the police, who don’t seem to be subject to the same demographic forces as the rest of us. As I read the fire services review, I couldn’t help but imagine what would happen if you told the police they had to raise a significant portion of the funding for their vehicles themselves.)
As I said, for me it was like reading a textbook. I learned a lot about fire services in our municipality — beginning with just how dependent they are on volunteers — and rather than buttonhole my relatives over the Christmas season to tell them what I’ve learned, I’m going to unload it all on you, dear readers, with apologies to those of you — particularly the volunteer firefighters among you — for whom this is old hat.
The authors of the fire services review had access to almost five years’ worth of data — from 15 February 2011 to 22 October 2015– for all 34 of the CBRM’s fire departments.
Crunching the numbers, they were able to determine how many calls each department responded to over this period, and provide a breakdown of the nature of those calls. As a result, I can now compile this random collection of fire services facts that represents only a fraction of the content of the report which is, after all, 299 pages long.
Workloads
Taken as a whole, all fire departments see their workloads spike in April (more recently, the review notes, this has been delayed into May). The authors don’t say it, but judging by the breakdown of incidents to which stations respond found elsewhere in the report, I’d have to guess this is a graphical representation of grassfire season:
Also interesting: the workload increases with “daytime human activity.” Things start picking up at 6:00 AM., increase steadily until 4:00 PM, then continue at a “relatively higher level” until 9:00 PM when the activity begins to taper off:
Incidentally
Here’s the breakdown of the types of incidents CBRM fire services respond to, based on the 2011-2015 data. As the report notes, the chart reflects how the calls were “dispatched” as opposed to what crews actually found when they arrived on the scene. The majority of incidents were dispatched as a minor fire type (the category includes level 2 grass fires):
Specialty Services
Specialty services such as handling hazardous materials (Hazmat), high angle rescues, motor vehicle extrications and water/ice rescues accounted for under 1% of all assignments in the 44 months of data examined by Manitou. One of the report’s recommendations was that, given the infrequency of these types of incidents and the additional level of training required to handle them, a “regional team approach” is warranted.
That actually is the approach the CBRM takes to Hazmat incidents:
Currently, the primary delivery of service rests with the CBRM Hazardous Materials Team, housed at the Grand Lake Road Volunteer Fire Department, and located at 850 Grand Lake Road adjacent to the City of Sydney (Figure 11-9). The all-volunteer team provides Technician level response throughout the municipality. The team’s services are augmented by all career and volunteer departments who have some level of operations and/or awareness capabilities.
Some of the Hazmat team members aren’t members of any other fire department and the team functions independently, with its own response and “ancillary support vehicles.”
Vehicle extrication is the most common specialized service in the CBRM and the report notes that it is also “the most coordinated within the CBRM” with “well-defined dispatch protocols…for regional utilization of this specialized equipment and trained personnel.” (Although apparently at least one department “purchased its own extrication equipment without consulting with CBRM.”)
As for Water/Ice rescues, the report says the CBRM has about 17 incidents per year. The chart above tells you which departments have boats and the review says these are “fairly well located in proximity to water” which is a comfort.
High Angle rescues (from “building faces, cliffs, trees or other locations where individuals must be lowered or raised”) are rare — there was only one recorded in the 44 months of data examined — but Manitou argues the “topography” of the CBRM lends itself to “the need for high-angle” rescue service.
Medical Aid
Some of the CBRM’s fire stations responded to more calls for medical aid than anything else over the monitored period.
Medical aid calls accounted for 37% all calls received by the Boisedale Fire Department, 38% of all calls received by the North Sydney Fire Department, 42% of all calls received by the Big Pond Fire Department, 69% of the calls received by the Port Morien Fire Department and 74% of all calls received by the Louisbourg Fire Department.
This aid — known as Medical First Response — is separate from the assistance many fire departments provide at the request of the provincial Emergency Health Services (EHS) for “incidents such as traffic accidents.” The fire services review goes into some detail about this:
The EHS provides grants to replace equipment used at calls and indemnifies individuals in participating fire departments for liability related to medical omissions or errors. Individuals must complete a 40-hour class to become eligible for providing MFR. Upon completion of the training, based on affiliation with an approved service providing agency, the individual is issued a tag from EHS. The tag recognizes the individual’s ability to provide MFR service through their agency.
The EHS recognizes 6 levels of response from local fire departments. These range from no response under any circumstances to response to all incidents. More common protocols include notification for time sensitive emergencies and critical care calls such as reported cardiac arrests.
Back in 1998, CBRM actually passed a motion (moved by Councilor Darren Bruckschwaiger) to prevent its fire departments providing such services “in the absence of provincial funding.”
Nevertheless, 15 departments continue to offer such services, which the authors of the review say is “reasonable” if restricted to “critical events where multiple hands and quick response are needed.” The report concludes:
While we recognize the concerns of “downloading” fiscal responsibility by the Council, we believe that for some departments – particularly those located remote from EHS ambulances – that MFR is a valuable community service and consistent with their neighbor-helping-neighbor orientation. At a minimum, the fire services in CBRM should respond at Level 2: Notify my department/agency if requested by the responding paramedics.
By the Numbers
Minor fires (including level 2 grass fires) accounted for 45% of all calls received by the Donkin Fire Department over the monitored period, 46% of all calls received by the Glace Bay Fire Department (the second busiest department in the CBRM), and a whopping 70% of all calls received by the Dominion Fire Department.
The Big Bras D’Or Fire Department, although outside the CBRM, responds to calls within the municipality and so was included in the coverage analysis. The breakdown of incidents to which it responded over the monitored period showed that motor vehicle accidents and rescues accounted for 15% of them and medical aid for 19%.
The Florence Fire Department, for some reason, has a higher than average workload — it accounted for 6% of the regional workload over the monitored period. Minor fires accounted for 41% of calls and medical aid for 27%.
The Marion Bridge Fire Department covers the largest response area — 373 square kilometers — but experiences only “average” service demand, primarily (61%) for medical aid.
The Tower Road Fire Department covers the smallest response area — 9.2 square kilometers — and responds chiefly (61%) to minor fires (including level 2 grass fires).
The Gabarus Fire Department which also has a large response area — 284 square kilometers — is one of the least busy services, answering 27 calls over the monitored period (four of them in Marion Bridge.)
The Mira Road Fire Department responds “primarily to fire alarms” (41%) which is “possibly due” to the proximity of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital.
While service demand is generally decreasing across the CBRM (albeit, more slowly than population is declining), it has increased for the New Victoria Fire Department which responds mostly (48%) to calls for medical aid.
Sydney’s Central Station accounts for the highest percentage of the regional workload (over 16%) responding mainly to minor fires (37%) and fire alarms (32%). The Whitney Pier station accounted for 5% of the regional workload and responded mainly to fire incidents (55%).
Volunteers
Manitou received 222 responses to a fire services member survey, including answers from members of every department except Boisdale, Christmas Island, Dominion, Frenchvale and South Bar. Among the respondents (93% of whom were male) 15% were career firefighters and 6% were something I didn’t know existed — career firefighters who also volunteer.
Almost half of the respondents have lived in their community for more than 25 years and the largest age cohort — you’ll be happy to hear — is 26 to 35. Only 16% are over 65. Over 40% of the firefighters surveyed work in the private sector.
The survey found that 78% of volunteers had completed NFPA Firefighter 1 training and 33% had completed NFPA Firefighter II. Another 45% had completed medical first responder training and 38% had specialty training (rescue technician or Hazmat).
The biggest risks to volunteers, in terms of potentially being unable to continue serving, were mostly work-related (including “employer will not release me for calls.”)
Roughly 80% of respondents expressed concerns about the future of the department — chiefly “budgetary concerns” — and many told the authors that fundraising was taking up too much of their time. Over the long term, most were more positive about the outlook for their own departments than for CBRM fire services as a whole and almost 59% agreed that improved coordination was needed.
A full 77% considered it “very important” to be part of CBRM fire services, which the authors found encouraging, but 45% said they’d would have to wait and see whether they’d continue to be involved with their department were it to merge with a neighboring department.
All I could think of while reading this was a friend of mine who has worked in jobs that have required her to coordinate volunteers and who is adamant about how they must be treated (first and foremost, “Don’t waste their time.”) The report has some recommendations about recruiting and retaining volunteers that we should probably be paying attention to.
And if we already are, good for us — I am reporting on a review that was published three years ago, after all. Then again, this is the CBRM, it’s entirely possible we have done absolutely nothing.
Finally (and this is going to sound weird, but it’s sincere), I actually enjoyed reading this review and you might too.
