Fire dept

WTF???What the hell are we doing advertising for a full time fireman when we are being told that no one will step forward and become an aux fireman? NO freaken wonder!!!The problem is in the dept it self…don’t want part time??We are bleeding and this is the kind of shit we get?Terrace has the same pop that we do and they have 8 full time and 27 aux…what happened?We used to have as many as 30 aux.Phone or visit city hall and tell them we can’t afford this any more.

They might be takeing it from the civic center.

I’ve seen Pop Shoppe pop in Terrace, but not here…we don’t have the same pop as they do.

Pretty sure the cuts at the Civic are going to gains @ the City Yard/City Works depts.

Oh and the new firefighter position is NOT a new position, it is replacement for a firefighter who is retiring.

I’ve never understood the idea of volunteer firemen. If one labour group can be made volunteer then why not another? Let’s have volunteer road works employees, cab drivers, nurses and grocery store clerks too. Jobs are what strengthens our economy so we should be careful not to encourage replacing any paid jobs with volunteer labour.

The firefighter position has been posted because at least another one or two firefighters are retiring this year. The shifts are so stretched that there’s only usually 3 firefighters working per shift. We will not be losing any money. And for the record, Prince Rupert receives many more calls than Terrace, and should there be a big fire in Terrace, they have many surrounding communities that would help them out. Prince Rupert Fire Rescue has no backup. Whatever happens here, they deal with it. I’d much rather have highly trained professionals than a few clueless Auxiliaries that may or may not show up to work.

We are THE ONLY town/city in BC that does not have aux or volunteer members.We used to have 30 + aux members.Terrace firedept costs over $800,000.00 less than ours.What happened to the city saying it would be looking to get aux members to replace retiring full time firefighters?The city is incompetent when it came to negotiating a new contract.When is the last time that we would have needed backup?NOT!!!

And by the way,the Thornhill firedept is VOLUNTEER!!!

When did we ever have 30+ aux fire fighters in Prince Rupert? Was that 30 at once, or 30 in total since the fire dept began to operate in 1910?

How many volunteers do you think would be available this weekend. I can’t imagine telling my wife we can’t go camping May long weekend because I am a volunteer fire fighter and my pager might go off. Yeah, that would fly, or I should say the pager would fly; either out the window or at my head.

Hasn’t the fire department been recruiting volunteers? I remember seeing an ad at some point. Did you sign up? This could be a good poll question.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare Terrace and Prince Rupert’s fire departments.

Terrace didn’t buy a cable company and forgive a $20 million loan to Citywest. Terrace isn’t risking its largest asset by competing with Rogers, Bell, and Telus.

How about the city actually do the things a city should do? Like you know, have fire and police protection? That sounds pretty good to me. How much did Citywest contribute to the City this year? How many firefighters would that have paid for?

Sure, Terrace has auxiliary firefighters, but it also has professional ones like Rupert does. Every interaction I’ve had with both departments has been awesome. I’ve called 911 in both Terrace and Rupert, for a life-and-death thing. Both fire departments responded super quick, way before the ambulance did.

princerupert.ca/page.php?id_ … _section=1

I think a largely volunteer fire department is needed.

Consider; Most cities the size of PR get by with a volunteer force, climate means there are no brush fires or wild fires to deal with, small geographical area ( I believe the highway is responded to by Port Edward VFD), and to suggest that a volunteer force cannot do what the paid force does is an insult to the many who volunteer and do a fine job.

Isn’t the threat of replacing paid jobs with volunteer labour an insult to those who dedicate themselves to their profession? Just sayin. What do you do? Maybe someone would volunteer to do that job. Why is volunteer labour acceptable and sometimes encouraged in this industry? I don’t have that threat in my line of work and that’s the case for most of us. I couldn’t imagine having that threat hanging over my head.

If the jobs aren’t needed they aren’t needed, but to suggest replacing productive, paid jobs with volunteer labour is unacceptable in my books.

I wouldn’t want a largely-volunteer fire department. Neither would my insurance company. I’d want someone who has dedicated his life to this stuff. But there’s no reason not to have volunteers to help out if they are available.

A PNG guy called the fire department when he thought there might have been a gas leak at our place. The firefighter who came with a carbon monoxide detector to my place was there in an instant, and really knew his stuff.

The firefighters who came to my neighbour’s house as I was trying to revive her were there in an instant, and they really knew their stuff too. But I could definitely tell which one was the professional and which one was the volunteer. Would rather have both of them there in this case.

Anyway, sorry to keep harping on Citywest, as there are probably other things that the City could cut as well. But really, if the point of the thread is to save money, then the City should be saving money in other areas. Not in public safety. It’s the City’s primary role to provide these services. It’s not the City’s primary role to subsidize a cable company.

I think having a full time fire department is a great asset for us to have. I really don’t understand why people feel this job should be done for free, should Police be a job that’s done as an volunteer based? how about your job that your doing now? I know if my family had a house fire or an emergence I’d rather have trained full time guys responding than hoping someone comes and volunteers their time and lack of training. The fire department here is already under staffed and with some guys retiring we need younger Rupert kids in the fire house. I’d rather have a few less city workers or sell City West than make cuts to emergence department, Fire and Police aren’t areas I’d want to see cuts backs in staff.

Mig,you are out to lunch!!!Insurance is cheaper in Smithers and almost every where else.How the hell do you think Vancouver,Kelowna Victoria Etc do it and we can’t?Get real!WE are broke!

I’m out to lunch? Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna all have all-volunteer fire departments? Huh?

Smithers is a lot smaller than Rupert. How about comparing a city of the same size? Fire insurance is cheaper with all-volunteer fire department? I’m out to lunch?

To get a DPG of 1, you need to have 3 full-time professional firefighters on duty 24/7. Anything less will get you a DPG of 2 or greater, and higher insurance rates. If Smithers doesn’t have that, then insurance there will be more expensive.

I think that anyone who wants to turn an essential service, into a volunteer society, is out to fucking lunch. But hey, that’s just me. I don’t care how high our taxes are. Essential services ARE NOT the places to cut things. Keep in mind, our fire department has NEVER, EVER lost a foundation to a fire. That’s how professional they are.