Three more firefighters resign

DIDSBURY - Three more firefighters have resigned from the Didsbury Fire Department (DFD), bringing the total number to eight who have quit over the past month.

All eight resignations are over safety and leadership concerns at the fire department, said Deron Reimer, the town's manager of protective services, which oversees the fire department.

The three recently resigned firefighters are Lorne Code, Pat Dodman and Alex McBain. They join former deputy chiefs Curtis Mousseau and Danny Miller, training officer Brayden Snyder, and two others.

On July 25, the Town of Didsbury released a report from contractor Caliber Planning Inc. from Calgary, which cited several concerns from firefighters including the DFD lacking standard operating procedures and the fire chief (Craig Martin) lacking human resource management experience and conflict resolution skills.

Reimer told the Gazette that despite the resignations the department is able to meet any and all demands.

"We have 22 active firefighters," said Reimer. "There are a couple on leave and one on maternity."

Reimer said the department recently responded to a mutual aid call in Olds.

"We had seven members that went out on the call," he said. "We had more available. I see no issues with coverage. We're still strong. We still have lots of experienced firefighters here. Did we lose a lot of experienced firefighters? Yes we did, but we still have lots of experience."

The department recently held a barbecue for members. There were concerns that were posted on a Didsbury social media page that stated that the barbecue was put on strictly to thank the remaining firefighters and that the town was "pushing the truth under the rug."

"The barbecue that people are talking about is a business meeting that happens once a month and there is typically always food, a barbecue, or whatever," he said.  "It's not something we just decided to do this time. This has always been the practice of the fire department to have food at the business meeting. There was no special meeting."

Reimer said he did talk to the members in attendance and took questions.

"I did thank them for coming out to calls still and still plugging away despite everything going on," he said. "I did thank them for that but it wasn't a 'thank you' barbecue. It was just our typical monthly business meeting."

Reimer said they had a great turnout for that business meeting with 15 members showing up.

Morale among the remaining firefighters is good all things considered, said Reimer.

"I think a lot of the firefighters here just want to get on with things," he said. "I don't think morale is that low. I think there are some people here that may be low, but in general I got a good vibe that our people are ready to go on and move forward."