I have been following the unfortunate situation that the Didsbury Fire Department (DFD) and its members have been experiencing for the past six-plus months. I personally feel that the real issues have been diluted by the ongoing political/administrative disagreements. The real issues that affect the community on a much larger scale need to be addressed.
I am a former emergency medical responder (EMR) and was also a DFD trainee several years ago. Because of my experience working as a first responder and my short period of DFD training, I recognize these issues and how they will play out over a period of time. My purpose in writing this letter is for the general public to ask more questions about the situation and to realize that the simple solutions that have been offered aren’t necessarily the most sufficient solutions for the community.
The town states that until more DFD members can be recruited and trained, mutual aid from neighbouring departments like Olds will be available. Anyone who is trained in first response will confirm that response times are one of the most crucial factors in any emergency situation. I learned during my DFD training, protocol is that the alarms are set off once to have DFD members respond to a call. If there isn't enough response, the alarms are set off a second time. If there still isn't enough response, then mutual aid is requested. Also take into consideration the location of the emergency and possible extended travel time for not only DFD but additional for the distance of OFD.
Consider how much damage a fire will cause because of a delayed response time due to a lack of local members…Or how about someone who suffers a broken femur and could potentially bleed out in five minutes if the femur were to damage the femoral artery. They are trapped in a car and Emergency Medical Services cannot access them until the fire department extracts the patient. But the response time is delayed because mutual aid was required…?
This is not an adequate solution.
Questions…
In 2018, how many calls has the DFD responded to and what were the member attendance numbers on those calls?
Since the DFD crisis has started, how many times has mutual aid been requested? And how many DFD members responded to the calls that required mutual aid?
What are the DFD response times versus mutual aid response times?
2. When I started training with DFD it was a six-week training program. The majority of this training is done once a week for a couple of hours in a controlled environment. It is quite basic compared to fire training for full-time paid firefighters, but with a good, educated training officer and time, a volunteer rookie will have just as much training as a paid firefighter. But many don't complete training. One of the reasons I didn't complete the training was because I realized I would be in situations where I would not be able to see my surroundings due to smoke. Maybe a silly reason but it's legit when working in an emergency situation.
So what about the rookies that actually do make it through the controlled training? Their first actual test is attending a REAL emergency call. Coming onto a car accident scene where a child has died, the pregnant mother is dead but the fetus is still alive and the father is unconscious with severe head trauma and all are trapped in the vehicle. All the while, the drunk driver that hit them is running around the scene screaming about how it wasn't his fault. Or, because we live in a small community, what about when the rookie is best friends with the father of that family trapped in the car...? This is only a minor reality that first responders have to face. How many rookies do you honestly think will have the stomach for it and show up for the DFD meeting the following Wednesday?
A recruiting drive is not an adequate solution.
Questions…
The DFD training officer has resigned; who has been running Wednesday training sessions since then or has there been no training since then?
Because many DFD members are disgruntled about the current situation, what has the Wednesday meeting attendance been over the past six months?
Have the current and former members been given/taken the opportunity to have their voices heard or make constructive suggestions aside from the individual meetings held prior to the audit release?
What is the ratio of senior members versus rookie members (five years or less) on the DFD?
Will it be a senior member with several years of experience appointed as the training officer or…?
Statistically, how many new recruits make it through training and maintain DFD membership for two-plus years?
How many of the current members also hold a minimum of EMR licensing?
There has been a third party audit that the town has taken into consideration and developed an action plan around the findings of the audit. Action plans are general practice in many levels of business now. It gives teams the opportunity to rectify the situation, learn what they need to learn and move forward.
This is positive, healthy work practice. But since the action plan was released, more members have resigned. Is it that the internal issue may be bigger than the action plan is addressing? As a community we need to be more active. It is our responsibility to ask these questions because no one is going to offer the information freely!
Getting the answers will paint a better picture of whether or not the community’s safety is at risk. Internal issues and squabble details are not the business of the community, just like any family doesn’t want to air their dirty laundry. But we do need to know how severely the current issues are affecting the community and that it will not continue beyond this.
We need to know that the actions that have been taken are having immediate positive results vs. seeing more members resigning.
Food for thought...
Laure Rivers
Didsbury
