Support for Small Fire Departments

WHEREAS the ever-increasing burden of regulatory compliance, including training standards, record keeping, reporting and technical knowledge is beyond the capacity of most small volunteer fire departments; AND WHEREAS Worksafe BC regulations that apply to volunteer fire departments reference standards which are not freely available to those departments: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the provincial government increase funding to the Office of the Fire Commissioner for the purpose of providing more direct support to small fire departments in the areas of training, information management, and technical expertise; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the funding flow through the Office of the Fire Commissioner to: - develop a unified information management system software that would provide fire departments with up to date standards and regulations; - implement a provincial standard for maintenance and training records, based on standard operating guidelines; - ensure that these standards recognise differences between large professional fire departments and small volunteer fire departments; and - produce the management system in the form of standardised software, freely available to all public fire departments; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a provincial grant be made available to all volunteer fire departments on an annual basis for information and reporting services, funded in part by the existing tax levy on fire insurance policies.