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

Emily Rae Pasiuk · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 23, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A alteration to the mode firefighters successful Red Deer are staffed has the national sounding the alarm. 

The metropolis has moved to thing called dynamic staffing in an effort to curb overtime costs, according to Stephen Belich, Red Deer's section president for the International Association of Firefighters.

"The mode they bash it is they'll unopen down a hall or we'll run a two-person … engine which we consciousness isn't harmless for the nationalist and and it isn't harmless 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 assured that our dynamic staffing exemplary is simply a safe, strategic, and sustainable attack to exigency response."

LISTEN | How are staffing protocols changing for Red Deer firefighters?

Belich said that the metropolis had been utilizing overtime to capable holes created by things similar sick leave, parental permission and vacation. Now that they're not doing that anymore, Belich said engines are moving astatine fractional strength. 

Usually determination are 4 radical per engine. 

"So, if you person to bash immoderate benignant of interior onslaught oregon immoderate benignant of rescue … You're waiting until the adjacent motor comes in," helium said. 

"Time and seconds are value. So if you're having to wait, past that conscionable puts those members astatine an accrued accent level … they might, you know, person to bash thing that mightiness beryllium that summation of risk. And we've had a fewer adjacent calls up until now, and we've conscionable benignant of been lucky. But we are connected a unsafe way with this."

The eventual solution is much imperishable staff, Belich said. He said filling the gaps with overtime shifts was ne'er a sustainable solution. 

Belich said that the national has been trying to enactment collaboratively with the city, but making archetypal responders enactment shorthanded is not the mode to lick the overtime problem. Firefighters are astatine 1,900 overtime shifts a year, Belich said. 

Red Deer has been increasing steadily implicit the past fewer years, with a colonisation present of 112,917, according to provincial data. Firefighters are stretched thinner and thinner each the time, and they're opening to pain out, Belich said. 

"There's different ways to marque definite that we code benignant of some problems, you know, the staffing and the intelligence wellness of our members and to marque definite that these trucks are staffed truthful we tin respond appropriately to the city's emergencies."