Fire services in Fort Resolution downgraded after most firefighters resign

When someone calls the emergency number in Fort Resolution to report a fire — the only phone that rings is inside Louis Balsillie's house.

"When that fire phone rings, I'm out the door," said Balsillie, who is the chief of Deninu Kųę́ First Nation and the N.W.T. hamlet's former sub fire chief. "My wife is calling other people, like the fire chief and all that with their cell phones, letting them know there's a fire." 

Or at least, that was the case up until Sunday night. 

The phone will still ring, but it's unclear who will respond.

Eight members of the 10-member volunteer fire department, including the fire chief, resigned over a dispute about the community's communication system, said Balsillie. They want fire phones re-activated in all firefighters' homes, he said, instead of a proposed cell phone communication system.

Because of the resignations, fire services in the community of a little more than 500 have been downgraded from the standard level 2 "defensive" approach to a basic level one "prevention based" approach says a public notice, issued by Todd Francis, the hamlet's senior administrative officer.

In an interview with CBC, Francis said he had "no comment" when asked what would happen in the event of a fire in the community, or whether residents were currently safe. 

"The official statement would be, we're working with MACA [Department of Municipal and Community Affairs] and the fire marshal's office to develop a plan to ensure the safety of residents of Fort Resolution," he said.

After meeting with the hamlet's mayor and council, Francis said he would be extending an invite to the former chief and firefighters to see what their concerns are. 

"Hopefully we can have some meaningful discussions and clear the air, because to be honest with you, this has caught us all off guard." 

Phone lines versus cell phones

Francis said he'd been on the verge of implementing a new emergency communication system. 

Firefighters would take turns carrying a cell phone for a week that would ring if someone called the emergency line to report a fire. 

"That person would get on the radios — we've purchased brand new radios — they would dispatch it over the radios, so all the firefighters would be aware of it. It's not a controversial system."

Francis said it's a system used by firefighters in other jurisdictions, including Hay River. 

"They've been using it for 10 years successfully," he said. The only difference is that Hay River uses a dispatch service based out of Alberta, whereas in Fort Resolution the plan was to have firefighters share responsibility for the phone on a weekly basis, he explained.

But Balsillie believes the fire phone system is more reliable. 

"If I get [the cell phone] for that week, and if there's a fire I have to call all you people [and say] 'Hey there's a fire,' 'Hey there's fire,' 'Hey there's a fire,'" he said. "The other way, it rings in your home, bang you're at the fire hall and everyone knows there's a fire." 

According to Balsillie, the fire phone lines stopped working in the other firefighters' homes when Northwestel installed internet service in Fort Resolution homes about four years ago.

"When [the Northwestel employee] was hooking up the internet ...  he said, 'This is going to take away from your fire phone — do you still want it?' and we said, 'Yes.' That's why we still have it in our phone."

Balsillie suspects the other volunteers didn't know the installation of internet would disable their fire phones. 

What happens now

Balsillie said if there's a fire in the community now, he's also not sure what will happen.

"I can't stand back and let somebody's house burn, so I imagine I'd be running out the door," he said. But he would have to get creative. 

"I don't know what we can do, maybe knock it down with something, I don't know. You're not going to have fire trucks there." 

A spokesperson for the N.W.T.'s Department of Municipal and Community Affairs told CBC in a statement it's aware of the situation in Fort Resolution.

It says it can deliver a safety training course designed to keep residents safe if there's a fire, and help the hamlet develop a communications plan and provide training for a new fire chief.