Firefighters literally put their lives in danger to protect our communities. It’s rare to hear criticism of them, and it’s understandable why. We don’t want to go running into a burning building, nor do we want to be ungrateful to those who’d pull us out of one.
Toronto just decommissioned four fire trucks and closed one fire station, so people automatically think of the safety of themselves and their families. What if firefighters are just a minute too late getting to my home? A spokesman for the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association says the reduction in services will result in longer response times, but Fire Chief Jim Sales says they won’t be. Also, none of the 84 fire fighters affected will lose their jobs.
More importantly, the vast majority of calls firefighters respond to aren’t for fires — in fact, just one per cent are, down from 50 per cent in 1960. Thanks to better building materials and other fire-preventon measures, there were 2,239 fires in Toronto in 2010, compared to 3,700 fires fifty years earlier — and that’s while Toronto’s almost tripled in size.
What about the other 99 per cent? More than half are medical emergencies, and then there are false alarms, car accidents, rescues and a whole bunch of miscellaneous ones, maybe even cats stuck in trees.
So a lot of calls are for medical emergencies. Isn’t that what paramedics are for?
In fact, there’s a turf war between fire and EMS services in Toronto. Last year, the president of the Toronto Paramedic Association complained that firefighters are trying to horn in on EMS territory to protect their jobs, not because they’re the right ones to respond:
“… the reality is that what patients need are more paramedics and more ambulances to appropriately facilitate appropriate response in a timely fashion,” MacBride said. “Ultimately, what they (firefighters) are trying to do is save their budget, not help patients.”
Firefighters are often first on the scene thanks in part to the network of fire stations (with 81 across Toronto compared to just 45 ambulance stations) even though they often don’t have the skill set required for medical emergencies:
A paramedic speaking on condition of anonymity says the fire service is “almost invariably” first on scene at medical calls, thanks its superior resources. He compares the fire department’s role in medical calls to that of a lifeguard: “They do first aid, they do CPR and they put oxygen on somebody. And the lifeguards get paid a hell of a lot less than firefighters do.”
An anonymous OPP source in the same article has harsher words when dealing with a highway accident:
He complains to the two strangers whose cars collided minutes ago on Highway 401 of his frustrations with Toronto Fire, who are also on scene.
He accuses the department of rushing to highway accidents unnecessarily, clogging the roads with massive fire trucks while offering little concrete assistance.
“We’re in a war with the fire department,” he says.
There’s no logic to using expensive, unneeded fire services resources other than naked self-interest: fire fighters should be the ones to respond to non-fire emergencies so they can stay busy and justify their jobs. What about EMS services? “We should look at doing away with paramedics, and having fire-based EMS,” says Ed Kennedy, president of the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association. Meanwhile, municipalities across Canada are twisting their budgets in knots to accommodate $100,000-a-year fire fighter salaries.
Will politicians actually do something about these outsized fire departments? The union has the public’s admiration and respect for firefighters on their side, and it’s not above using raw, naked fear to scare the hell out of people, either. “Seconds count,” intones the voiceover in in a Toronto Professional Firefighters Association’s TV ad, as a baby cries and a grim firefighter emerges from the smoke holding a burnt teddy bear. The ad all but shouts, “Cut Toronto Fire Services’ budget and your baby could die.” An ad that appeared on Toronto radio stations warned ominously that, “public safety will be threatened.” and asked residents to ask their councillors to support fire fighters. Scared yet?
Something’s gotta give, but there’s no pressure from the public to make changes, and plenty of pressure from the firefighters’ union to keep the good times going, so it’s not likely to happen anytime soon. Beyond the overly generous pay, fire fighting remains a dangerous job. Just a couple of days after the cuts were made, four firefighters were injured while responding to a blaze in a Mississauga factory.
Larping Towards Gomorrah 