(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

"SECONDS MATTER"

Red Deer firefighters share growing concern around staffing requirements

Feb 7, 2025 | 12:33 PM

The aftermath of a reduction to minimum staffing levels for fire services in Red Deer is particularly being felt at Station Two, which only had two members, rather than the previously required four, available to work overnight on Jan. 29.

In 2024, there were multiple instances of Station Two facing short-staffed conditions, which overtime shifts were solving as a temporary solution, explains Stephen Belich, president of IAFF Local 1190, Red Deer Firefighters.

In an effort to address budget constraints and employee burnout caused by overtime shifts in one move, Red Deer city council opted to reduce minimum staffing levels and overtime pay for filling vacant shifts. The decision was made in November during the operating budget debate and went into effect on Jan. 6, this year.

Curtis Schaefer, deputy chief of operations for Red Deer Emergency Services (RDES) explained the decision: “We’ve experienced high volumes of overtime over the last four or five years. For example, in 2024 we had 2,000 overtime shifts,” he said. “The continued increase in the number of overtime shifts puts wear and tear on the health and wellness of the emergency services staff by having to fill those shifts on a regular basis. The ask was to reduce budget and to reduce the impacts on staff health and wellness.”

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Belich said the staff reductions have had the opposite effect, putting extra strain on those working short shifts due to potential increases in response times and inadequate resources.

In response, Schaefer reiterated that the decision was made with a “risk management perspective” to ensure workers have days off for recovery.

“Any change of significance can have an impact on individuals and their uncertainty is always hard and it’s a difficult time to not know the full impacts of a change like this,” Schaefer said.

Belich explained that four members to an engine was the previous requirement as that provides a pump operator, a captain to oversee and direct the crew, and two firefighter paramedics.

“That is a safe number, to have a minimum of four,” Belich said. “When you’re having two, when you go to a structure fire in those areas, you’re lacking. You either don’t have someone operating, or you can’t have the hose, or it just becomes unsafe, and it puts those members in that situation of what to do if somebody is trapped or they need to do a rescue.”

While engines from other stations are also on the way in these situations, Belich said a fire can double every 30-60 seconds, so seconds can make the difference in mitigating damage or facilitating a rescue.

He then delved into fire response standards and said the benchmark most people strive for is set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Belich said the city just meets NFPA standards for single family homes when the stations are fully staffed and falls short when it comes to multi-story and industrial fires.

Schaefer explained that Red Deer formerly used NFPA as its standard until 2017, when it adopted the High Intensity Residential Structure (HIRS) Fire Response, which came through the Alberta Building Code. He assured that the recent changes to staffing models haven’t changed the fact that Red Deer meets both the NFPA and HIRS standards, even with the two-man shifts.

While the city is meeting response standards according to Schaefer, Belich maintains that Red Deer needs to think long term in regard to population growth and a changing city landscape and start hiring more firefighters now, to prepare for the future.

“We’re getting higher multi-family, multi-story buildings — what does it take to also be able to protect those and the industry? That’s looking at increasing staffing and again, it takes years, and you have to start planning ahead for that so it’s a little bit at a time,” he said. He added that Red Deer currently staffs around 194 firefighters but thinks that should be closer to 220 with our growing size and density.

Schaefer said the city has hired 40 new members since 2022 and is currently in the process of hiring seven more in an effort to meet a staffing level increase approved by council in 2022.

While the city works to build its firefighting force, Schaefer said the bottom line is that residents are safe.

“The strategic locations of our stations allow other engines to respond to that area in a very timely manner,” he said. “That first engine with two members on it, that officer is trained in risk assessment, and they can set up, do the initial assessment, determine what is needed to mitigate that incident prior to the other trucks arriving on scene.”

Belich, on the other hand, insists: “It isn’t appropriate community levels of public safety, and I think the citizens and the members of RDES deserve more. Our members, that puts them in a very precarious position.”

Overall, on behalf of the union’s members, he asks for support and adequate resources to do their job safely.

Station Two is located on 67 Street and serves the neighbourhoods of Oriole Park, Pines, Highland Green, Normandeau, Riverside Meadows, and more.

Related: Red Deer emergency services chief & association address Station #2 staffing challenges