New fire chief looks ahead

Cramahe Fire Chief Jim Harris has a lot of work ahead.

Cramahe Township's Interim Fire Chief, Jim Harris, has been busy in the few days he has held the job - and there's a lot of work ahead.

In an interview on December 10 the new chief laid out where he is going with the service.

On December 15 he will bring to Cramahe Council a new Fire Department Establishing and Regulating Bylaw which will outline his duties and the responsibilities of the Cramahe Fire Department. The chief explained that the definition of what the service provides is very important. Small departments like the 28-man Cramahe Department can't perform some services offered by larger departments. People must be informed of what services are provided.

The chief shared his proposed bylaw and the list of core services of the department. At the top of the list is fire suppression and emergency response.

Under that title are search and rescue, forcible entry, ventilation, protecting exposures, and salvage and overhaul. Emergency first aid, including defibrillation, CPR and trauma-based first aid will be provided by the Cramahe firefighters. The men will also conduct extrications when they assist trapped patients. They will perform a minimum level of action with hazardous material emergency responses.

The service will also promote fire prevention.

Inspections, investigations, including those on new buildings, will be conducted.

The Cramahe firemen will offer fire safety education.

The chief will not be the incident commander in the re-organised Cramahe department. That will be handled by the new Deputy Chief, Gary Cammack.

Mr. Harris is ultimately responsible for the actions of the force and will ensure that all firefighters receive the upgraded training needed.

That will begin shortly when some of the firefighters begin 17-day weekend college courses. The courses are expensive ($1,250 each), so the township will send a few at a time.

At least four firemen will take a basic firefighter course at the Eastern Ontario Fire Academy in Norwood. This will be a first for the Cramahe group.

Command officer training will be given to captains and deputees first. This is a two-part four-day course costing about $400 per person. Currently only one firefighter has taken the first part of the course.

The chief is planning to set up on-site training programs dealing with specific issues like pumper operation in his continuing efforts to ensure the firemen are highly trained.

All this is necessary and much of it is governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Mr. Harris says the Cramahe Department is technically compliant with regulations now. When the bylaw is passed on Tuesday it will be "more compliant". A municipality is not required to provide fire protection, but if it does, it must establish a fire department and name a chief. His new bylaw will modernize the one the township currently has on the books. A copy of it will be on the township website if it is passed.

Organising all this training and preparing the bylaw has been time consuming. Once he has most of the details in place, Mr. Harris expects to spend 1-2 days a week fulfilling his chief's duties.

The new chief supports the staffing goals of outgoing Chief, Gary Cammack. Mr. Harris would like to see the current group of 28 grow to 35 by the end of next year. He admits there is a need for more. He expects that the men currently on the force will bring names forward for consideration. There is no physical standard for firefighters and the job is not limited by gender, but anyone joining the service must be physically capable of doing the job.

Mr Harris was appointed to the interim position at an in camera meeting on December 1. He cannot predict at this time how long he will hold the position before it is advertised as a permanent position.

He is "looking forward to getting to work with the people who do this community emergency response work".

"The firefighters here are a great bunch of guys."