Last week, 13 people committed to start training to revive Fort Liard’s firefighting services.
Close to two weeks ago, Fort Liard hamlet council and the community decided to suspend the services due to not having enough volunteers to safely operate.
Hamlet manager of works and services Alan Harris said that since the word got out about the suspension of services, “things do look a little better.”
In response to a media request, Harris wrote that 13 people showed up to a meeting at the hamlet’s firehall last Monday and plan to meet up weekly to orient themselves to the fire trucks and gear.
The hamlet needs 10 volunteers to safely operate its fire services.
“I believe that in a short period of time Hamlet Council will give the green light to go back into operation,” he wrote.
Fort Liard isn’t the only community struggling to keep its fire services going – a dangerous volunteer service, Harris noted, that can be thankless.
Earlier this year, Fort Providence and Norman Wells both announced they were suspending their volunteer firefighting services, also due to lack of volunteers.
Those communities have begun building back their services, said Kevin Brezinski, director of public safety for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA).
While he said MACA is only involved in a guidance and advisory role and that communities make these decisions on their own with guidance from the department and the Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission on matters of safety, he had some information on how things are going.
“What I do know, with Fort Providence, is that they've done some great work in bolstering volunteer numbers,” said Brezinski.
“I think there's been a heck of an effort there. I know that they’re arranging training and they're working on some key foundational elements, like their standard operating procedures and stuff of that nature and I think they expect to be sort of fighting fires defensively in a couple of months.”
The situation is similar in Norman Wells, he said, where numbers have been bolstered and the community is working on its standard operating procedures. Brezinski said Norman Wells has also hired a full-time fire chief.
When a town doesn’t have enough people to safely operate its fire services, it can be a tough call to make to stop fighting fires, but Brezinski said the decision to step back and regroup is a good one.
“Hats off to the communities who are now taking steps to improve their fire protection services and the safety of residents,” he said.
Back in Fort Liard, Harris noted the challenges to operating a volunteer fire service in a small community, with no proper facilities for training and no money magically appearing to build anything such as that.
“The few members our small department can attract are difficult to keep motivated and interested just gearing up and dragging hoses around every week,” he said. “Very few people even think about the fire department until there is a fire.”
Last year, the Auditor General of Canada stated the NWT was not doing enough to monitor the quality of essential services, such as fire protection, in communities throughout the territory.
Since then, MACA has been conducting assessments around the territory. Brezinski said 19 had been completed by last week.