The family of a Nova Scotia firefighter who died from injuries sustained while taking an exam at a training school says they’ve “stayed quiet for far too long.”
Skyler Blackie’s parents and siblings say the Nova Scotia Firefighters School needs to be held accountable and are demanding safety reforms that they say have still not materialized more than five years later.
“Every firefighter in Nova Scotia… everybody has family, and nobody wants to go through this. We don’t want to see anybody go through this,” said Blackie’s sister, Jessica Gillis.
“So enough was enough at this point.”
Gillis says the family wants the province to integrate the training school — which currently operates as a non-profit body — into the college system, as is the case in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. She adds there should be a provincial representative on the school’s governing board and legislation setting safety standards.
“We need to see the province step up and take over the fire school so our firefighters can be safety trained,” she said.
Gillis says she was prompted to make the call on social media — and launch an online petition last week — after discovering a recent safety audit of the school found safety infractions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
In an interview with Global News, Scott Nauss, the senior executive director for safety with the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration, confirmed the audit.
He says the department is holding the fire school “accountable” to make improvements.
“We’ve recently (investigated)… the firefighting school, which led to another third party to come in and really review the operation thoroughly,” he said.
“(There were) 41 recommendations brought forward by the third party, and when my team reviewed that, the report and the recommendations, we honed in on 22 that we believe to be high risk.”
The department hasn’t released details on the infractions.
‘Haven’t learned their lesson’
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Blackie was a Truro, N.S.-based firefighter who already had 10 years of experience.
The 28-year-old was taking part in a training exam at the Waverley, N.S., school on March 9, 2019, when a fire extinguisher exploded and caused a head injury.
“Skyler had to choose one of those fire extinguishers that was set out and those fire extinguishers were not inspected or checked,” Gillis said.
“When he released it, it exploded, thus hitting him in the head and giving him a catastrophic brain injury.”
Blackie died in hospital 11 days later.
The provincial Labour Department’s health and safety division launched an investigation in 2019, which led to two occupational health and safety charges against the school.
The school pleaded guilty and, in April 2022, was was ordered to pay $102,000. That figure represents a fine, a victim’s surcharge and $80,000 in bursaries for volunteer firefighters who want to take courses.
According to court documents, the faulty extinguisher had been donated by the Imperial Oil Refinery, and the “donated extinguishers were not inspected, serviced, or maintained by the school.”
The school admitted that measures should have been put in place to ensure that inspections were taking place, the statement of facts read.
In emotional victim impact statements, Blackie’s widow, parents and siblings told the court in 2022 how devastated the family was to lose him. His mother, Cheryl Ann Blackie, said was she broken and also “fearful” because her other son was also a firefighter.
Skyler’s brother, Errison, had been with him at the training school when Skyler was fatally injured.
“I fear without change this could take another precious firefighter’s life, fear that overwhelms me because that firefighter could be another part of my heart and the other half of Skyler’s,” Cheryl Ann wrote in her statement.
Now, more than two years after the fire school was sentenced, the Blackie family says they still haven’t seen the changes they were promised.
“The way the accident happened, it was unnecessary. It should never have happened,” Cheryl Ann told Global News.
“There (needs to be) more oversight on the school so it doesn’t take another firefighter’s life… Skyler would want us to be doing this because he would want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
The family’s online petition has received more than 1,600 signatures over five days.
Among those in support of the family is the Halifax Professional Firefighter’s Association.
“Other provinces have much heavier regulation around the training of firefighters,” said Joe Triff, the union’s vice-president.
“The fact that there are still infractions tells me that they haven’t learned their lesson.”
The Nova Scotia Firefighters School declined an interview. In an e-mailed statement, John Cunningham, the school’s executive director, said he supports legislative change to enhance firefighter safety but that it requires significant funding from all levels of government.
“We want to address the recent social media post and petition circulated by the Blackie family. We assure you that we are fully aware of their concerns and are taking them very seriously,” Cunningham wrote.
“We have been actively implementing changes to our operations and safety policies to create a safer training environment for all firefighters. However, we recognize that there is still more work to be done, and we are firmly committed to continuing these improvements.”
— with a file from The Canadian Press