Calgary city council to consider new committee for fire department

A new committee to oversee Calgary’s fire department could be stood up as early as this summer if city council greenlights a motion later this month.

A motion from Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness asks city administration to draft a bylaw, terms of reference and budget requirements to establish a Calgary Fire Services Committee.

Wyness’ motion, which is co-signed by councillors Mike Jamieson, John Pantazopoulos, Andrew Yule, Harrison Clark, and Mayor Jeromy Farkas, cleared a technical review at the city’s Executive Committee Tuesday.

“The Calgary Fire Services Committee would create a more adaptable and agile governance model that would strengthen transparency and public accountability, support more efficient capital deployment and oversight of operational needs,” the motion said.

Unlike the Calgary Police Service, the fire department falls within city administration in the Community Services department.

Wyness said the fire department “crosses multiple general managers and business units,” which has created oversight challenges for council.

“Council is losing sight of what fire halls are coming on, what equipment is needed for the fire department,” she told reporters. “By standing up a committee, we’ll be able to keep a line of sight on the issues facing our fire department.

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According to the motion, the fire department’s operating budget is $360 million with a capital budget of $57 million.

The motion argues the fire department’s budget hasn’t kept up with the city’s population growth, which is estimated at 25 per cent since 2018.

In the meantime, call volume has increased by 50 per cent since 2020. The fire department responded to more than 92,000 calls last year, including 4,700 substance-related medical calls.

“We’re behind on fire halls, we’re behind on staffing, we don’t currently have a dive team,” said Calgary Firefighters’ Association president Jamie Blayney. “Having that direct voice to council helps the department operate more effectively.”

The fire chief formally addresses council twice during the year: to present the fire department’s annual report, and during budget deliberations in November.

According to Wyness, that has led council to make “ad-hoc” decisions to increase the fire department’s budget during those talks.

“Last mid-cycle (budget) adjustment, council decided to invest more in ladder trucks,” Wyness said. “If we would’ve had a line of sight on that through reports to a committee, it would’ve been in the budget already and we wouldn’t have been debating it on the floor.”

Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth declined to comment until council makes a decision on the motion, a city spokesperson told Global News.

Blayney said allowing the fire chief to have a direct line to city councillors would improve accountability and transparency.

“It increases transparency for fire department operations, it essentially cuts red tape,” he told Global News.

According to the motion, the estimated cost to establish a new council committee was determined by city administration to be $283,000 over two years.

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot voted in favour of bringing the motion to a debate, but said he doesn’t support establishing an entirely new committee for the fire department.

He said concerns about expenditures and the fire department’s ability to spend its capital budget are operational concerns that can be handled internally at the city.

“I think it could potentially be rolled into emergency management or some other entity within the City of Calgary,” he told reporters.

If city council approves the motion, a report on establishing a committee is expected to be presented to city councillors later this summer.