Dartmouth residents gather to discuss potential fire station staffing changes

DARTMOUTH, N.S. – About 150 people gathered in Dartmouth Wednesday evening to discuss and, in many cases, bash the idea of changing the staffing model at Fire Station 13.

The group hosted the meeting at Alderney Landing’s theatre and the crowd included firefighters, union representatives, and politicians.

The controversy stems from the proposed plan, first discussed by Halifax Regional Council last year, for the fire station to switch to the e-platoon staffing model.

Career firefighters would work daytime shifts Monday to Friday while their volunteer counterparts would cover the other hours.

“Our business decisions are data-driven, based on a very sound analysis,” said Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Chief Doug Trussler, earlier in the day.

“Our analysis has clearly shown that we can get the right amount of firefighters on the scene,” he said, referring to the the plan, adding that service levels in the area wouldn’t be reduced.

WATCH: The opposition to volunteer firefighters manning the king street station continues despite Halifax fire’s insistence the move would not negatively affect fire protection. Global’s Alexa MacLean has more on the training volunteer firefighters undergo.

2:13 The gap continues to widen between feuding fire service opinions

At the meeting, some people questioned Trussler’s assertion.

“He doesn’t know what he’s using. You know, he can’t even manage overtime,” said Gloria McCluskey, councillor for Dartmouth Centre.

McCluskey said there is particular concern because houses are close together and made of wood in some parts of Dartmouth.

“He doesn’t understand that because he doesn’t come from here,” she said. “Dartmouth is really growing, and we have four big senior buildings and a lot of these seniors are not mobile.”

Rissesco said councillors will address the proposal at a meeting to be held on Tuesday.

“There’s two things here that politicians always have to do: one is that we have to make decisions that make sense, the other is we have to make decisions that our citizens believe make sense,” said Mayor Mike Savage at Halifax City Hall, earlier in the day.