(L-R) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Red Deer Fire Chief and President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs Ken McMullen at the Government Relations Week this December. (Ken McMullen LinkedIn)

By Alessia Proietti and Sheldon Spackman

staff reductions, increasing costs, volunteers

Red Deer Fire Chief Ken McMullen shares industry insights with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Dec 20, 2023 | 4:58 PM

Red Deer Fire Chief and President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) Ken McMullen sat down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this month to share the latest industry insights including a reduction in firefighters, increase in equipment costs, and a need to incentivize volunteer firefighters.

From December 4-7, the CAFC held their annual Government Relations Week where 40 fire chiefs from across the country had over 70 meetings totalling 36 hours with elected officials to discuss issues and concerns facing Canada’s fire service.

With the Prime Minister, McMullen shared the results of the 2022 Great Canadian Fire Census, with participation from 534 fire departments in the country.

The census stated that there has been a reduction of firefighters, with 156,000 in 2016 and 126,000 recorded just eight years later. McMullen added that the industry saw 9,500 leave in 2023 and only 8,000 enter, showing a large loss of experience each year.

He says over 50 per cent of firefighters in Canada are over the age of 50 leaving organizations top heavy.

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“It’s the best job in the world. If you want to give back to your community, if you want to be a valuable member of your community, this is one of the greatest ways to do that,” he said as a message to young people interested in fire service.

Secondly, the survey showed that while fire equipment is increasing rapidly in age, so are the costs to replace it.

McMullen says when municipalities budget, they plan in replacement cycles of 10-20 years for fire equipment. While they also factor small incremental increases for inflation, no one could have predicted a 30 per cent increase in the cost of replacing a firetruck, he added.

Finally, McMullen says the CAFC has asked the government, with a petition garnering 17,000 signatures, to increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000 annually.

READ: Bid to boost tax break for volunteer firefighters as brigades struggle with retention

Of the 126,000 firefighters in 2022, 89,000 of them were volunteers, with that gap growing larger he said.

“One of the components has to do with the increased awareness on both our physical health and our mental health. We know that firefighting is an inherently dangerous profession, so we’ve always prepared for that from a physical perspective. It’s only been in the last decade that we’ve really identified the risk to mental health of a firefighting,” he said.

“Community members have other options to give back to their community. They can volunteer in other ways. As we raise the awareness of the risk to being a firefighter, some individuals just simply choose to give back to their communities in other ways. The incentive for the volunteer firefighter tax credit would be a bonus; it would be a nice appreciation to men and women that we think would sustain or at least helpfully maintain the members that are there today.”

McMullen added that it is also more difficult today than in was five to 20 years ago for businesses to support volunteer firefighters as they don’t have the full capacity to let people go at a moment’s notice.

“Businesses that may have had two people running the front counter might only have one and so when that volunteer firefighter answers the call, they might have to put a close sign on their door,” he said.

He added the federal budget process takes place in February 2024 and hopes to see elected officials taking action to better prepare for next year’s fire season.

McMullen emphasized that the 2023 fire season was the most destructive in Canadian history on record, with wildfires ravaging across the country.

READ: Editors explain why they chose wildfires as Canadian news story of the year

“We look outside today, the lack of snow, the lack of precipitation, we are concerned that the fire season of 2024 is going to be just as bad. We have to prepare differently for that. Elected officials seem motivated, I think is the best way to describe it, motivated to understand the needs of the fire service and to be able to move some of our important agenda items forward,” he said.

Some of those items include the creation of a National Fire Administration, similar to those in other countries like the United States, England, and Australia, and the revival of the Federal Joint Emergency Preparedness Program. The program, established in 1980 and ending in 2013, joined provincial and federal forces to allow municipalities to apply for funding for specialty training and equipment.

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