Council here received its first report from the new county fire training officer – and members are generally pleased with the way things are working.
Wellington County’s emergency management coordinator Linda Dickson presented a report from Jonathan Karn, who was hired by the county and works out of Centre Wellington’s Fergus fire station. He has been busy since starting on July 25.
Karn presented council with a list of his activities since last summer and noted he visited every fire department in the county at least once. After that, he began to evaluate training needs of all the fire departments, and then established a list of training priorities.
Karn worked with the Fire Marshal’s office and developed standard documentation forms for all fire departments. That has also streamlined training records while meeting Ministry of Labour standards.
Karn is developing a five-year plan to maximize training sessions for all departments, and a set training schedule.
The training will cover the Ontario firefighter curriculum. Karn reported that to date Mount Forest, Puslinch, Mapleton and Minto fire departments have five-year plans in place or those are already under development, and he expected the remaining departments to have theirs done by this month.
Karn said all county firefighters will be enrolled for certification in the Ontario Fire Marshal’s firefighter curriculum, and at the end of five years, all 350 firefighters will have about 400 hours of training and be certified as firefighters in Ontario.
Standard lesson plans are being developed to ensure the same content is being taught at all county fire departments.
In the past six months, lesson plans have been developed that will be used by all stations.
Karn said in the report a new website was also being developed and was expected to give firefighters access to lesson plans, training materials, documentation and other information.
There will also be company officer development training.
Karn developed a list of training officers in the county who can deliver courses, which saves having to send volunteer firefighters to the Ontario Fire College. There is a need to provide “live fire” training, but there are some costs associated with that and those will have to be worked into budgets.
Dickson told council, “Things are going very well.” She said Karn was unable to attend in person that night because he was away at the Ontario Fire College.
Dickson’s report noted the fire training officer is fully funded through the County of Wellington emergency management budget.
Mapleton Fire Chief Rick Richardson said, “Jonathan’s doing a great job. He’s raising the training level.”
Councillor Andy Knetsch said, “When I look at what training officer Karn has done regarding the standards and training … The report indicates he is proactive and very serious about standard training across Wellington County.”
Mayor Bruce Whale asked about specialty training for firefighters in rural areas. Richardson said that is not designated by the province or the county. Whale asked if each department “looks after its own specialty.”
Richardson said it does. He noted Mapleton specializes in “confined space training and tank rescues.” He said if other departments need that kind of help, “We’d be called for that.”
