Looking up at the thick black smoke shooting into the sky from a Mission seniors complex in March, firefighter Rich Rangers wondered how many people would be lost.
Rangers, the vice president of IAFF Local 4768, was among the four firefighters first to attend Chartwell Carrington House on March 9 before more support could arrive.
He presented as a delegation to Mission council at Monday’s (May 4) meeting on behalf of the union to share information about the Carrington House fire and advocate for the allocation of funds for additional firefighters.
Upon arrival at the seniors complex blaze, two firefighters were tasked with evacuating residents, while one was assigned as the pump operator and another on the hydrant, Rangers said.
“I remember as we masked up at the front entrance, I could see inside where you head up to the third floor, and I could see the fire in the ceiling in the stairwell. I said to the young fella I was with – and you guys know … I try to make light of everything – but I said to him, well, we might die today. And I wasn’t entirely sure if I was joking or not,” Rangers said.
They were informed by Chartwell staff that there were still people on the third floor.
“How do you think that makes you feel when you have two people available to try and help? Yes, the ladder was on the way. Yes, engine two was on the way, but we’re talking time-critical issues here. We make our way up, we carry out a few elderly ladies, and then our rescue efforts come to an abrupt halt. We come across a bariatric resident who can hardly stand, let alone walk with assistance at all,” he said.
All efforts were focused on rescuing the resident as the roof collapsed down the hallway. Rangers said it took six firefighters to get the person out of the building.
“That’s the equivalent of two fire engines tied up as the building is burning down — that was the third arriving engine that finally was able to help us with that work,” he said.
Eventually, a total of 60 firefighters responded to the blaze, including 15 career off duty, 15 paid-on-call that could go inside, 17 that could only stay outside and 13 that could “questionably” go interior.
He said Mission is “bloody lucky” the fire happened at the time of day it did with Carrington staff on hand and the majority of paid-on-call firefighters available.
“The outcome would have been dramatically different. And we all know that dealing with unforeseen circumstances, the city needs to be effectively equipped at all hours of the day – not just sometimes. This is not a simple staffing issue. It’s a public safety issue. It’s a strategic planning issue, and it’s an infrastructure issue. Your career firefighters are no different than the pipe the (public works) guys are putting in the ground. We’re up and down every road in the city, 24 hours a day. We’re infrastructure,” Rangers said.
For time-critical calls like the Carrington fire, he said staffing makes a difference. Rangers added that the city’s current staffing model is insufficient for modern day emergency demands.
“When staffing is insufficient, time is lost. When time is lost, conditions worsen. And when conditions worsen, lives are put at risk, including ours. That is not fear-mongering, that is the reality of emergency response. Every second matters in a fire, every firefighter matters during a rescue, and every staffing decision made in this chamber has real world consequences,” Rangers said.
He added that the focus needs to remain on the large gaps in the resource availability.
“We were working towards that goal of having the second engine servicing our community for the future hall four with the medic (truck). You’ll remember the medic – the medic barely runs anymore, which leaves us back to having engine one carrying the bulk of the calls while POCs get paged out for the second or even third calls that happen simultaneous all the time,” he said.
Rangers’ initial delegation request was rejected by the city’s acting corporate officer based on the council procedure bylaw. After an appeal from Rangers, council voted 4-3 to allow the delegation. Mayor Paul Horn, Coun. Carol Hamilton and Coun. Danny Plecas voted to uphold the denial.
“Thank you to those who voted to hear the local speak tonight. It means a lot. I don’t hold anything against you that did not. Really a little bit, but that’s okay too,” Rangers said.
Rangers said the group has never stopped communicating and their voices have never changed.
“The same struggles exist and yet we still keep them to ourselves, quietly hoping the city will shake off its analysis paralysis. I don’t say that trying to offend you, it’s just what it feels like from this side,” Rangers said.
Rangers said the urgency of the request isn’t landing and another master plan doesn’t seem like a wise allocation of funds.
“When the fire department spending package was the only one discussed in a closed meeting, you have to understand our concerns,” Rangers said. “While management receives promotions, the boots on the ground continue responding to endless emergencies with minimal staffing.”
He said the local is deeply frustrated, and paid-on-call firefighters are also stretched with finding work-life balance.
“We are the people doing the job. We know what we need more than anybody,” Rangers said. “This is not a broken link in the chain of command. This is IAFF local communicating openly with the city as a whole,” he said.
Horn said the fire department wasn’t the only department voted upon in closed meetings.
“We did an efficiency review, and enough of that is now public that I can say it looked at our entire organization, and I can also say that it called for us to further look at the master plans for RCMP as well as for fire. And so we did, and they’re not new master plans,” Horn said.
The mayor later added: “It’s really important for you to understand that we will be able to look at the decision on the fire hall and the staffing with that new fire hall as soon as the review is completed. We don’t need to wait until next year. And I appreciate your feedback because from my perspective, we should have been moving forward with it with good data along the way.”
Coun. Angel Elias said she shares the frustration as one of the decision makers but she wants to be respectful of the process.
“The fire department and RCMP are non-negotiable. You guys are infrastructure for this community. And that really just stuck with me right now. And so I don’t know a way forward in regards to a process where we can move this forward to be able to get four firefighters hired as soon as possible, outside of the budget, outside of taxation. I’ve had some other conversations with senior staff in regards to where that money can come from, and I’m committed to continuing to work with my colleagues to make this happen sooner than later,” Elias said.