Might be our first female Fire Chief in keeping with current policy?

How much are we paying for this position? Also, wouldn’t this be an appropriate time to reduce administrative costs at the Fire Hall? I’m sure there could be an Assist Fire Chief that could fill the vacancy and the Assist Fire Chief Job could be filled in with a Captain…there must be someone that could step in as a junior captain, who would have joint duties as a regular fireman as well, with a slight wage increase. Surely there is someone in City Hall that could figure this out?

I see there has been another explosion of railcars carrying petrol and LNG. This time Edmonton outskirts and CN involved.

The first thing our new fire chief needs to do is review any old reports of the dangers of rail cars with the actual or potential increase in volatile materials travelling through the city instead of bypassing it to decrease the risk of injury to the population.

If those reviews show a low standard of protecting the public, then he/she must do something about it and tell the public what that will be.

Of course, from the sounds of it, it may be impossible to get CN to comply with that type of review.

Wonder if they will stop chasing ambulances?

So retired02, it took awhile but here you are again with your asinine comments about fire trucks chasing ambulances. I guess when your having a heart attack or some other medical emergency you will be content on waiting for as long as it takes to get an ambulance to your location. Those ‘ambulance chasers’ are actually highly trained emergency medical responders. Are you aware that there are actually fires halls strategically located around the city?? The idea is for the quickest response. Obviously the time it takes to get help means nothing to you. How about you do a little research before you continually slag the fire dept.

Well said Number4

Thank you Number4.
My father, Mike Burns, was a paramedic and unit chief of the BC Provincial Ambulance Service in this community for much of his career. One of the things he was instrumental in implementing in our community was the First Responder Program, or as retired02 calls it “ambulance chasing”. The purpose of the program is to ensure that those needing medical assistance can receive it as quickly as possible. The fire crews receive training to provide first aid and when an ambulance is needed all persons who can assist are dispatched. The ambulance crews, and especially those trained as paramedics, can provide more in depth care, but sometimes, it is those few minutes of first aid that make the difference. There are more fire halls than ambulance stations in our community, and sometimes the fire station is closer to your home. Instead of complaining about the responders, perhaps you should consider the impact on you or your family member if the care you or they receive can improve the outcome or quality of life. In many medical emergencies, time makes a difference. And while you are at it, you can thank my father for his input in getting the air ambulance closer to your community as well. He may not have been very politically popular at times, but my father ALWAYS cared about the health needs of our community, and that includes yours retired02.

Thank you Number4.
My father, Mike Burns, was a paramedic and unit chief of the BC Provincial Ambulance Service in this community for much of his career. One of the things he was instrumental in implementing in our community was the First Responder Program, or as retired02 calls it “ambulance chasing”. The purpose of the program is to ensure that those needing medical assistance can receive it as quickly as possible. The fire crews receive training to provide first aid and when an ambulance is needed all persons who can assist are dispatched. The ambulance crews, and especially those trained as paramedics, can provide more in depth care, but sometimes, it is those few minutes of first aid that make the difference. There are more fire halls than ambulance stations in our community, and sometimes the fire station is closer to your home. Instead of complaining about the responders, perhaps you should consider the impact on you or your family member if the care you or they receive can improve the outcome or quality of life. In many medical emergencies, time makes a difference. And while you are at it, you can thank my father for his input in getting the air ambulance closer to your community as well. He may not have been very politically popular at times, but my father ALWAYS cared about the health needs of our community, and that includes yours retired02.

Not sure how that happened, but it is valuable enough to say it twice! lol

This issue is a little more complicated than getting timely medical help to those in need which I agree is important. Healthcare is a provincial responsibility. These firefighters are paid by the municipality. The first responder program may very well be instrumental in provincial offloading of costs on to municipalities. It may also be instrumental in the very poor treatment and remuneration our paramedics get for a very very tough job, that should be properly compensated. It may also be instrumental in the underfunding and under staffing of ambulance services, which I think is a criminal.

Firefighters should fight fires. Paramedics should render medical aid. Most firefighting forces use a majority of volunteers, with a contingent career firefighters. Prince George isn’t among that majority. Our firefighting bill is approaching $20 million dollars a year and it’s ridiculous. Most only pay a fraction of what we pay. It’s something that must change. It’s easy to do, the working models are all around us, it will just take the political will to tackle it. The first responder program might sound great in theory, but I can find any statistics on whether or not it actually makes a difference, versus the cost to run it. Some may think that’s callous, but you can’t throw millions of dollars at something in the hope that it might help, you should have to demonstrate the efficacy.

The first responder program is a rest of incident command systems which was developed after fire disasters in California. ICS ensures there are adequate resources to assist in any emergency. So stop your bitching about how it’s paid for and be glad that it might save your life someday.

Sine…are drinking the same water as Retired? Where do you get your stories from. In actuality 80% of Canada’s population is serviced by full time career fire departments. I’m wondering what cities you think are serviced by a majority of volunteers. Jeeze, do some fact checking before you type your little messages on here. I think firefighters get paid regardless of what the call is so I think it’s great they are trained to respond to medical calls to provide possible life saving care. You should appreciate that fact as well.

Canada is a very small country. I was speaking globally, most of which countries are much more mature than Canada. If you want a close model, look at Quesnel, they spend less than $1million annually. The majority of their firefighters are volunteer. 3/4’s of the firefighters in the states are volunteer. Shall I continue? You don’t me doing all your fact cheching for you do you? Thanks for coming out.

More mature than Canada? Really? A quick google of the topic shows how wrong you are so I won’t waste my time typing it all out on here. How does the saying go about getting drug into arguments………

Firemen should be fighting fires ! Paramedics should be doing medical calls. Police should be putting bad guys in jail ! We as tax payers can ‘t sustain an overlap in services ! Maybe we don ‘t need 4 firehalls paying guys ( no gals ) to sleep all night !