By Don Urquhart
Osoyoos Fire Rescue (OFR) has been re-designated following ongoing training, enabling it to provide fire suppression protection to larger, more complex structures.
In a presentation to council, Corey Kortmeyer OFR Chief said the move “enhances fire life and safety for the residents and visitors of Osoyoos.”
Council unanimously approved the Full-Service Operations Level designation at its regular open council meeting on Nov. 28 following a presentation by Kortmeyer during a committee of the whole meeting on Nov. 14.
Before this, the OFR’s fire suppression service level was designated as “Interior Operations” which limited its ability to respond to fires within “complex buildings” without pre-plans. A complex building is a building which has three or more storeys with a maximum living space of 600 sqm (6,400 sqft).
Fire suppression service levels consist of three categories:
- Exterior (“surround and drown”) which does not allow firefighters entry into any structure including buildings, vehicles and other objects;
- Interior which permits entry into all simple structures except for “complex buildings” which include multi-storey, high-rises, commercial complexes etc.;
- Full Service which includes everything including complex buildings.
Kortmeyer notes that Osoyoos has numerous – over 100 – “complex” structures that they would not be able to enter without pre-plans which take anywhere from 10-18 hours to develop.
Examples of non-complex versus complex building structures.
“Without moving to a Full-Service training standard, we would not be allowed to enter into the burning building as an Exterior or Interior department,” he said citing the example of a fire at a condominium or resort in town.
“Right now we are doing Interior service and we would not be able to enter into a complex building to undertake fire suppression, so if it was a toaster fire we would not be able to enter into that complex building,” he said.
“Being a Full-Service department will allow us to enter into a burning complex structure as long as it is safe to do so,” he added.
The move also comes ahead of significant changes to the province’s firefighter training standards in March 2024. These ‘upgraded’ standards will replace current safety standards known as the Playbook” with the “BC Structure Firefighter Minimum Training Standards”.
These were first introduced by BC’s Office of the Fire Commissioner in 2019 and developed and revised since then, with a requirement for all fire departments to implement the new standards by March 2024.
Part of the changes include added competencies for Driver/Operator, Incident Safety Officers (I.S.O.) and Incident Commanders (I.C.). Part of the drive for enhanced training stems from WorkSafe BC and Occupational Health and Safety regulations that require people to be trained for any task they are assigned.
Each of the service levels (Exterior, Interior and Full-Service) carries with it a different degree of training requirements. For Full-Service this means meeting the competencies included within the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1001 Firefighter I and II qualifications.
The move to Full-Service designation carries with it an added level of financial commitment for the town, Kortmeyer noted. The service costs will rise from $1,300 per firefighter for the current Interior Service level, to $1,500 per firefighter for the Full Service level. Ongoing training costs will also need to be factored in, he said.
Currently, the OFR trains its firefighters to the NFPA 1001 Standard in-house. This provides members with their “Pro Board” Firefighter I & II accredited certification and this provides two of the three requirements for the Full-Service training level, Kortmeyer said.
The third requirement is also being completed in-house as Chief Kortmeyer and Deputy Chiefs Ryan McCaskill and Rob Huttema have the requisite training and certification to enable the OFR to attain Full-Service accreditation, according to Kortmeyer.
“Our supervisor and supervising officers have all completed their necessary training and every one of our firefighters except for probationary firefighters have conducted training necessary to be Full-Service firefighters.”
Councillor Jim King raised the issue of whether bringing all OFR firefighters up to the Full-Service standard risks losing the volunteers to other communities as fully paid firefighters.
Kortmeyer responded by quoting the words of a former fire chief he worked under: “Would you rather train them and have them leave or not train them and have them stay?”
He continued, “I believe in supporting everybody and their steps towards their dreams and if they want to go out and become fully paid . . . we’ve lost one member but I don’t think we’ve lost because the professionalism that she’s showed shines a light on us.”
He also cited statistics that indicate firefighters who enter into service now remain for only about two years before leaving.
“But in Osoyoos, we are not experiencing that attrition rate and I think it’s due to the leadership and dedication of Chiefs McCaskill and Huttema and I think it shows the difference a progressive organization can make.”
