Whereas the Office of the Fire Commissioner issued the British Columbia Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Structure Firefighters Competency and Training Playbook which establishes the minimum standards of training required for fire services personnel in British Columbia in September 2014 applicable to any fire servicedepartment in British Columbia that provides fire services and includes municipal fire departments, volunteer fire departments, and fire departments established as a society under the Society Act of BC. And whereas the British Columbia Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Structure Firefighters Competency and Training Playbook states the Authority Having Jurisdiction describes local or regional government and further states that each local government must select and declare its firefighting Service Level in order for the local government to determine which set of minimum standards are to be met. And whereas it is the responsibility of each local government to immediately take steps to ensure implementation of the training requirements associated to the Service Level selected; And whereas the financial cost to local government to implement the new British Columbia Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Structure Firefighters Competency and Training Playbook Regulations are extremely prohibitive for rural communities and small volunteer fire departments, and may result in the closure of these departments: Therefore be it resolved that the Province provide funding for rural communities and small volunteer fire departments to cover the additional costs as a result of the British Columbia Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Structure Firefighters Competency and Training Playbook Regulations.
Emergency Management BC The establishment of the new minimum fire training standard in September 2014 provided a specific set of achievable training requirements, while ensuring firefighter safety. The new competency based standard and accompanying training materials, provide the local authority the ability to access training in a cost effective manner. The amount of training required is determined by the fire services that the local authority chooses to provide. Smaller and rural fire departments have the ability to choose to provide in-house training using training materials made available by the Office of the Fire Commissioner.