The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Firefighters school charged in training fatality
The Nova Scotia Firefighters School in Waverley faces Occupational Health and Safety Act charges in connection with the death of a Truro firefighter last year.
Skyler Blackie, 28, died at the Halifax Infirmary on March 20, 2019, after suffering a critical head injury when a fire extinguisher exploded during a training exercise at the firefighters school 11 days earlier.
Last month, an investigator with the provincial Labour Department's occupational health and safety division laid two charges against the school, a privately run nonprofit organization whose board of directors includes a representative from every county and the Nova Scotia fire marshal.
The school is accused of failing to recertify a used fire extinguisher and failing to ensure employees were aware of the hazard of using an extinguisher with an expired inspection certificate.
A lawyer appeared in Dartmouth provincial court last week for the school's arraignment. The charges will return to court Jan. 11.
The Labour Department issued a pair of compliance orders to the firefighters school after the mishap. The school had to remove all extinguishers similar to the one that exploded, have them inspected and then turn over the results of those inspections to the department. It was also compelled to provide all training and certification records.
Blackie, who lived in Debert, began his career as a full-time firefighter with the Truro Fire Service in October 2013 after five years as a volunteer with Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency in Fall River. He was survived by his wife, his parents, a sister and a brother who is also a firefighter.
More than 2,500 people, including firefighters, police officers and other first responders, attended Blackie's regimental funeral service at Colchester Legion Stadium in Truro on March 30, 2019. Hundreds of others lined the streets to pay their respects as a fire engine carrying his casket made its way to the arena.