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(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Small volunteer fire departments around the province are facing higher costs and possible limits to their service levels as they continue to adjust to new regulations.

And some worry there could be even greater implications to the British Columbia Fire Service’s implementation of it so-called 'Playbook,' which sets out minimum training standards for British Columbia firefighters.

The Playbook, first introduced in 2014, is the result of an inquiry into the death of Clearwater volunteer firefighter Chad Schapansky, who died while fighting a structure fire in Clearwater in March, 2004.

Playbook is not an issue for major fire departments in larger centres, but in small towns that rely on volunteers, the onerous requirements aren’t making recruitment any easier.
Lumby and District Fire Department Chief Tony Clayton says his guys are lucky they have the North Okanagan Fire Training Centre to reduce training costs.

“I don’t know how departments without access to training grounds can do it,” he says, adding paperwork requirements are one of the biggest issues. "The province hasn’t given us much help administratively or financially. I’m sure 80 per cent of departments in British Columbia are falling behind on paperwork.”

Clayton says roughly 75 per cent of his 20 paid, on-call members are trained to interior attack status.

While there’s some underlying speculation that new Playbook regulations could force volunteer fire departments out entirely or significantly change them, Clayton says the concept is solid, if not the implementation.

“I think the Playbook regulations were a problem everywhere when first introduced. We had a couple of false starts before getting on the right path,” he says. “I’m in agreement one hundred per cent with the need for the regulations, we just need some help behind the scenes.”

Playbook establishes an industry recognized minimum standard of training for fire departments. It breaks down competence levels in three categories: exterior attack, interior attack and full-service operational firefighter levels.

Each department is required to declare its firefighting service level, which will then determine the training competencies required by that department.

Larger centres served by full time professional firefighters are already well beyond Playbook standards but for smaller departments, the standards have often meant an increase in training an paperwork that's hard to keep up to.

Volunteer fire departments under the authority of regional districts share the same burden.

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen, for example, recently tried to standardize its seven community fire departments.

Bill Newell, Chief Administrative Officer for the regional district, told a recent board meeting they had difficulty getting consensus out of “seven strong-willed chiefs.”

Other areas like Osoyoos are worried their departments' budgets will soar as they try to meet requirements of the Playbook — perhaps double or triple, according to one regional district director.

In the South Okanagan community of Kaleden, Fire Chief Denis Gaudry sums up the greater concerns about the future of the small volunteer fire department in B.C.

“The fire departments need to provide input into the planning and direction the way everything is going, but we have to remember we are volunteer, community-based departments that need to balance with a provincially decreed direction, such as the Playbook,” Gaudry says.

“How do I, as a fire chief, do that? How does a regional district do that, and keep both in place? That’s the constant struggle we’re up against.”

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