N.B. fire departments report good news following dire Canada-wide report

Being a firefighter has changed since departments were first founded, according to Moncton Fire Chief Conrad Landry.

“When we started the fire service way back, we were putting fires out and now through the years it evolved to medical first responder calls, to wildland fires, but now it’s electric vehicles, it’s water recuses, high angle rescues so whenever anybody’s in trouble, who do you call? It’s the fire department,” he said.

Landry says a new report by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs puts reality onto paper.

Overall, the data paints a troubling picture across Canada, pointing out major concerns when it comes to wildfire season, aging equipment, staffing and rapid population and housing growth.

At a local level, departments are seeing pressures when it comes to call volumes specifically.

“Right now we’re averaging over 1,900 calls a year, which, if you go back to 2021, that’s pretty well almost double. We would have respond to about 1,000 calls back in 2021,” said Riverview Fire Chief Robin True.

He says today there’s more potential to see multiple calls at the same time, something that rarely happened 10 years ago.

“Just the general call volume certainly puts more pressure on the workforce,” he said.

The Moncton Fire Department is facing a similar scenario.

“Last year we had a little over 7,800 calls and this year we’re already at 8,430 some odd, so we’re probably going to surpass last year by over a thousand calls,” said Landry.

However, both departments say they feel they’re in a good position overall.

The City of Moncton added four new firefighters this year, four last year and have three new ladder trucks on order, according to Landry.

“Last year the four extra firefighters was to reduce a little bit of the overtime and it’s not just about the financial, it’s about the mental health of the firefighters,” he said. “This year we’re adding four firefighters and that means one per shift so we have four platoons, so one per platoon and it’s to put a second one on our rescue.”

Currently there is a minimum staffing of 21 firefighters per day and that will increase to 22.

The city is also coming up with a master plan, due at the end of December, which is expected to show what needs to be done to maintain for the next decade.

Riverview added three additional positions this year with another two to be added in 2025.

True says two new trucks are coming next year with plans for a new aerial truck in 2028.

“In Riverview, I’d say we have the appropriate size department for the current challenges. We’re lucky, again, that council supported us since starting this additional staffing in 2024 and into 2025, so we’re not behind those challenges. I think we’re keeping pace with those challenges,” he said. “Minimum staffing in Riverview 10 years ago would have been three firefighters on duty at any one time, now it’s up to five and I should add as well we have a compliment of 28 volunteer firefighter position.”

Two recommendations came out across Canada from the report: the installation of a national fire administration and reinstating a modified or modernized version of a joint emergency preparedness program.

“We’ve had significant price increases for apparatus and equipment. A firetruck that would have cost half a million bucks 10 years ago now costs well over $1 million, so it’s definitely a big challenge for smaller communities where they don’t necessarily have as big of tax space to support the apparatus maybe or the equipment they require,” said True. “So additional funding from the province and federal government would definitely be a help to smaller towns and villages.”

Landry pointed out that with many fire departments relying on volunteers, retention and recruitment need to be a top priority.

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