The Timmins Fire Department is looking to add a training officer.
With new provincial regulations coming into effect this year, as well as a need to meet other requirements, a report being brought to council from Fire Chief Normand Beauchamp is asking for the addition of a Lieutenant in Training.
The recommendation will be at the Feb. 20 council meeting.
The salary for the position would be $98,782, or $133,300 with benefits.
If approved, the training officer would provide training for hazardous material, firefighter level one and two, pump operator, emergency first responder, and specialized rescue in ice/water for an average of 1,600 hours each year.
The chief training officer would provide about 800 hours of training annually for: fire officer, incident safety officer, fire and life safety educator, fire ground command, fire service instructor, specialized rescue. The report notes the main task in this role is to manage and organize training.
According to the council report, the training requirements “are too much for the single member of the training division.”
There are a number of areas that training is required in for the 35 career firefighters and 140 volunteer firefighters at the city's seven fire halls.
The report outlines that the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management changed the firefighter and fire officer training program in 2015. While there was a chance for people to take a “one shot deal” grandfathering training program, there are 30 firefighters that didn’t meet the criteria or were hired after the changes.
“Consequently training is required for them,” reads the report.
For the majority of services that the department provides, hazardous materials skills and knowledge is required as well.
“As of today a review of the training records show that we have to train all the staff (volunteer and career) in hazardous materials at the minimum level (NFPA 742 Operational level),” states the report. “Currently, we have a very low number of firefighters trained at this level and that compromises the level of service and safety of firefighters.”
Timmins council meetings are held in council chambers at city hall. It starts at 6 p.m. You can read the full council agenda here.
