The Lakeshore Fire Department is not struggling to find volunteers like some places in Canada but that doesn't mean they aren't facing challenges.
A new census by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs released Tuesday, reports the number of firefighters has decreased significantly since 2016, when 156,000 were reported across Canada. Of the 126,000 that were reported in 2022, 90,000 are volunteer firefighters who aren't always available because they work additional full-time jobs.
Don Williamson, Chief of the Lakeshore Fire Department, says the majority of their volunteer firefighters also work full-time day jobs.
"Because Lakeshore is more like a bedroom community, their employment is not necessarily in Lakeshore. So it's not like if their employer would let them leave their job to go to a call, that's not the case in Lakeshore," he says. "We struggle in the daytime and sometimes have to call multiple stations in order to get enough compliment to meet the particular emergency call we're responding to."
The Municipality of Lakeshore has five fire stations - spread across Emeryville, Maidstone, Belle River, Ruscom and Comber - and is served by 95 paid volunteer firefighters along with seven full-time staff.
The Lakeshore Fire Department recently conducted a call for volunteers and received around 100 applications, in the end adding 19 new volunteer firefighters to fill several vacancies.
Williamson says the demands on a volunteer firefighter are very high, which includes new provincial regulations requiring up to 520 hours of training to be certified as a firefighter in Ontario.
"We also have to have our volunteer staff, that are also instructors, train the recruits through this 520 hours," he says. "At the same time, those instructors and recruits are still responding to calls in the municipality and performing equipment checks. So it really pushes what I call the envelope of expectations of a volunteer firefighter."
The department averages around 600 calls for assistance each year.
Williamson says the availability of the volunteer is one of the issues they face in a community like Lakeshore where people have to leave to do things like go shopping.
"If they're too far away they can't make a difference depending on the call type. It's all these struggles as a growing community is how we address these things. But it's all coming down to the availability of the volunteer firefighter because if they're here, they're showing up. But if they're tied up, busy, or have other commitments, that's where you run into your challenges," he adds.
The Municipality of Lakeshore is currently conducting a review of its Fire Master Plan, expected to be completed in 2023, to determine the service needs of the community in the short and long-term.
President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, Ken McMullen, is calling for additional funding from the federal government, especially for volunteers in smaller communities.
The census found, of the $5.6 billion fund given to fire departments across the country, only 15 per cent is given to the 2,000 departments that mainly have volunteers.
McMullen says volunteers currently receive a tax exemption of $3,000 annually, however the CAFC is looking to get that increased to $10,000 to not only help the current volunteers but also incentivize younger recruits.
With files from CTV News