Local firefighters will need to be certified under new provincial rules

As of July 1,Ontario firefighters will have to obtain a mandatory minimum certification clearance for specific jobs they perform.

Up until now many firefighters, who tend to train regularly but sometimes do that informally, would receive their certification on a voluntary basis. Starting this summer, they'll have to prove they're trained.

The cost of programs and the training required to achieve certification will vary for different services across the province. While the regulation is scheduled to come into effect this year, municipal fire services will have "four years to achieve certification for most of the fire protection service standards and six years for technical rescue disciplines," the provincial government says.

Regulations long overdue

Brian Arnold is Fire Chief with the City of Cambridge and a director with the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs. Arnold says the regulations are long overdue and are welcomed by a vast majority of fire chiefs in the province.

Arnold says many fire departments already train firefighters to the standard knowledge and skills required, butthe new provincial regulations may mean some departments, usually smaller ones, that haven't been keeping up with training will have tocatch up.

"When we talk about the need for certification, it's those new employees coming in that are going to require it upfront. But we're also looking at departments in other parts of the province that the training program, for example, hasn't been the most thorough," said Arnold.

"They haven't been covering the theory. It's just really been basic, hands on:pull the lever, increase the pump pressure, set the pressure relief valve, and you're on your way...without a full understanding of the whys, the mechanics, the hydraulic calculations."

Chief Arnold explained allowances are being made through a legacy program for someone who has been performing an emergency task for a number of years.

The changed Fire Protection and Prevention Act gives local councils the right to set out the level of service their fire departments provide the community and from there,they matchthe training totheneed.

Craig Eveson,Deputy Fire Chief with the Township of Woolwich says there are variations in the training needed between an urban city and suburban or rural township fire department.

"[Woolwich Township] provides full service fire protection. So essentially what that means interior structural firefighting, exterior structural firefighting, and then we list the other services that we provide. So auto extrication, ice water [rescue], you know, any number of whatever service we deem necessary," said Eveson.

"We don't we don't have any highrises here. So highrises wouldn't be something that we'd include, but somewhere like Kitchener or Waterloo with apartment buildings their firefighters, whoever is attending those calls, have to be certified to that level."

Budgeting for program

Smaller fire services including Waterloo region's townships and smaller communities in the province will now have to budget for the cost of the certification.

Arnold says if fire services have been training their crews over the last several years they will already be prepared for personalcertification.

"It really is a marginal cost to bring people in, evaluators to have them come in and do those assessments and those examinations," said Arnold.

The Firefighter Certification Application signed by the Ontario Solicitor General indicates a one-time administrative cost will be between $76.00 and $1,152.00 per fire department depending on the number of legacy applications submitted.

"The expensive part is for those departments that have not been providing the training to their staff, and now they have to [provide training]if they want to maintain that level of service," Arnold said.