Wellesley adopts new schedule for recruiting and training firefighters
WELLESLEY FIREFIGHTERS WILL SEE a new pay schedule for training hours under a plan approved this week by council.
The changes flow from the township’s new fire master plan.
Councillors approved all five recommendations regarding the recruitment and training of firefighters in the township, which were developed with input from the chiefs of all three Wellesley fire stations.
Firefighters will now be paid a flat full-day or halfday rate when attending courses and training outside of regularly scheduled practices. They will receive $50 for a half day of one to four hours, or $100 for a full day of four or more hours. Currently, they’re paid the same rate for extra training as they are for fire calls at $23.35 per hour, equalling $186.80 for a full day course or $93.40 for half a day. This cost limited the number of firefighters able to attend in the past.
Township fire chief Paul Redman explained that firefighters had requested more training opportunities.
“I think the firefighters are pretty excited to have more training,” he said.
The township will also create three trainer positions, one for each station to ensure consistency and a standard of training at each station. They will each receive a stipend.
Trainers will be responsible for attaining train-the-trainer status in areas such as pump operations and First-Aid/CPR, and then providing that training in house to reduce third party contracting. Trainers could also teach First-Aid/CPR to other township staff during business hours, eliminating the cost of third-party contracting there too. Trainers will need to have or obtain their NFPA 1041 Fire Instructor 1 certification within 18 months of getting the position.
Coun. Herb Neher asked if having one trainer would be more consistent.
“If they’re training on the same nights or different nights we have our deputy chief of training right now and his main focus is he’s putting the lesson plans out. Instead of having one person training all the time, we’re bringing it down to a station level and then the plan that I’ve outlined for the trainers is we’ll take on train-the-trainer roles,” Redman said.
Wellesley has nine substitute firefighter positions which will be replaced by three full firefighter positions. Currently the substitutes aren’t paid for training and it’s been difficult to recruit and attract dedicated firefighters for those roles. This has the potential to save the township $1,377.63.
Firefighters, including substitute ones, are expected to meet a minimum of 60 per cent attendance for calls, which is about 80 calls for the least busy stations. This equals 48 calls multiplied by $23.35 per hour multiplied by nine substitute firefighters equals $10,087.20. Replacing nine substitutes with three firefighter positions will equal three stipends of $1,782.39 plus the assumed 60 per cent call attendance of $1,120.80 per firefighter, which works out to $8,709.57.
Council also approved revisions to the fire department’s hiring process and recruit training program.
The recruit program has been designed to provide the fire department with a pool of qualified individuals that can be drawn from when openings arise and ensure recruits are trained to provincial standards, meeting all departmental requirements through a tiered training program.
Interviews will be conducted by all three stations to develop a two-year pool of qualified applicants. Candidates will be ranked on qualifications, experience, availability, profession, proximity to fire stations and suitability. Based on the number of applicants, each station will create a pool of 10 candidates ranked in hiring order and the list will stay valid for two years or until it is used up.
New hires will go through a two year tiered training program. Everyone hired after Jan. 1, 2017 will be on probation for one year and second class firefighter for the second year.
Lastly, council approved a bi-weekly training schedule for the fire department where firefighters must maintain an 80 per cent attendance in order to maintain their status on fire department. The report notes the current weekly schedule with a mandatory attendance of 20 practices is not sufficient to maintain a consistent schedule for the firefighters, leaving too many missed practices for those with other commitments. “I think that this is a great idea. I think that some of them were starting to wear out a little bit. I think this is a good way just to scale things back,” said Coun. Shelley Wagner.