Manitoba’s rural volunteer firefighters are sounding the alarm about a new training policy they say will make recruiting new members much more difficult.
Fire departments like the one in Headingley are run by volunteers and often they are the first at the scene of a medical emergency, sometimes 30 minutes before an ambulance can get there. According to first responder Glenn Reimer, the new mandatory training requirements — which nearly triple the hours of training needed and applies to medical first responders — from the College of Paramedics will turn new recruits away.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge to find somebody who’s willing to commit 312 hours to get the training, and then at the end be a volunteer,” Reimer said.
“Attrition, retirement, people moving out of the area — eventually those numbers will dwindle and drop to a point where our MFR (medical first response) department is no longer sustainable.”
Reimer says he knows some departments running with a handful of emergency medical responders (EMRs) that may close down within a year. Additionally, people in rural areas will need to commute for the training, which adds more time and money.
The training has nearly tripled as about six months ago, it was 120 hours. This means the cost to train has also tripled. It is now $13,000 to $15,000 for one person.
“We’ll invest this money in somebody, they could go on one call, it could be quite traumatic and that’s the end of their career,” says John Sparham, fire chief at the Headingley Fire Department.
Both Sparham and Reimer say they are worried for smaller, more remote communities with just a handful of members that could end up shuttering.
Reimer says he is frustrated that they were not contacted by the college before the changes to training were made.
“We’ve brought up concerns about how this will impact our department, but we have never been consulted prior to decisions being made.”
Global News reached out to the college for comment but it declined an interview and instead provided a statement saying it is “committed to future discussions with first responders.”
Chief Ryan Yackel in West St. Paul says since there are only two providers for the new training, volunteers would potentially have to commute long distances for weeks on end, which is less than desirable.
“To enhance paramedicine, you need the people to provide the services. And I think the changes that they’ve made for the medical first response are going to make it nearly impossible for anyone to take it, or want to take it, and it will essentially kill the program.”
Yackle says the new changes mean Manitobans will suffer the most.
— with files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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