Firefighters concerned about cutbacks as call volumes rise
Posted November 14, 2011 7:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver firefighters say their department needs more support from the next city council in the wake of recent cutbacks.
The president of the union representing Vancouver Fire and Rescue says there are 20 fewer people manning the city’s fire halls than there were two years ago.
Gord Ditchburn says resources are being stretched too far.
“We’re seeing an increase in excess of 10 per cent, 20 per cent a year in call volume, averaging just over 46,000 calls a year, and again, with a shrinking work force,” says Ditchburn.
He says he worries about public safety if the situation doesn’t change.
“If you don’t have the staffing and the resources in place, you compromise your response times, which means people wait longer for a fire truck to show up to an incident.”
Among the candidates the union is endorsing in this weekend’s election are Vision’s Gregor Robertson, the Green Party’s Adriane Carr, the NPA’s Sean Bickerton, and COPE’s Ellen Woodsworth.
