New staffing protocols putting Red Deer firefighters on a 'dangerous path': union

A change to the way firefighters in Red Deer are staffed has the union sounding the alarm. 

The city has moved to something called dynamic staffing in an attempt to curb overtime costs, according to Stephen Belich, Red Deer's local president for the International Association of Firefighters.

"The way they do it is they'll shut down a hall or we'll run a two-person … engine which we feel isn't safe for the public and and it isn't safe for our firefighters," Belich told CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. 

In a statement, the City of Red Deer said, "We respect the concerns raised by the Red Deer Firefighters Association; however, we are confident that our dynamic staffing model is a safe, strategic, and sustainable approach to emergency response."

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Firefighters in the City of Red Deer are sounding the alarm over changes to staffing. The city says the changes are needed to reduce overtime hours and protect first responder's mental health. But firefighters say the new rules spark safety concerns for their team and the public. Stephen Belich is the local president for Red Deer for the International Association of Firefighters.

Belich said that the city had been using overtime to fill holes created by things like sick leave, parental leave and vacation. Now that they're not doing that anymore, Belich said engines are running at half strength. 

Usually there are four people per engine. 

"So, if you have to do any kind of interior attack or any kind of rescue … You're waiting until the next engine comes in," he said. 

"Time and seconds are value. So if you're having to wait, then that just puts those members at an increased stress level … they might, you know, have to do something that might be that increase of risk. And we've had a few close calls up until now, and we've just kind of been lucky. But we are on a dangerous path with this."

The ultimate solution is more permanent staff, Belich said. He said filling the gaps with overtime shifts was never a sustainable solution. 

Belich said that the union has been trying to work collaboratively with the city, but making first responders work shorthanded is not the way to solve the overtime problem. Firefighters are at 1,900 overtime shifts a year, Belich said. 

Red Deer has been growing steadily over the last few years, with a population now of 112,917, according to provincial data. Firefighters are stretched thinner and thinner all the time, and they're beginning to burn out, Belich said. 

"There's other ways to make sure that we address kind of both problems, you know, the staffing and the mental health of our members and to make sure that these trucks are staffed so we can respond appropriately to the city's emergencies."