Thompson at 'crisis point' on firefighter vacancies: union

The Thompson Professional Firefighters Association is sounding the alarm on rising call volumes and stagnant staff levels that is says could affect public safety, with the northern Manitoba city's fire department short eight full-time members — the equivalent of a third of its workforce.

At the same time, 2023 was the busiest year on record for the city's fire and emergency services department, according to union president Travis Mirus, with a total of 9,034 calls for service — up more than six per cent compared to 2022.

"It's virtually to a crisis point for us here in Thompson," Mirus said. "We just are having a difficult time keeping pace with the demand for service."

He says the department is short eight full-time members, and should have a complement of 24 firefighter-paramedics, who are cross-trained to staff both fire trucks and the ambulances.

The current levels mean the department is essentially short an entire shift, which in turn means more overtime, with each member working an average of around 600 extra hours in 2023, Mirus said.

The department does not typically have 24-hour shifts, but saw about 250 instances last year where firefighters had to work 24-hour shifts.

Mirus says there were eight 24-hour periods in January where no ambulance was available, and fire response would have been significantly affected.

He worries 2024 will be even more challenging for the understaffed department and lead to burnout.

"Every new year is busier than the last," he said. "It's tough on them because everyone's working a lot of hours."

Growing demand, shrinking workforce

Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook says recruitment has long been a challenge in the north.

About five years ago, the city had funding, programming and people in place to train firefighters, she said, but at the last minute, plans with the University College of the North fell through. 

"Since then we have struggled," said Smook.

Firefighter staffing levels in Thompson need to be addressed, since the city is a hub for the north, she said. While the city has just under 14,000 residents, it serves up to 60,000 residents in the region, she said.

Mirus said in his 22 years with the Thompson Fire Department, he's seen about 175 firefighters cycle through.

The workload has increased exponentially, but the staffing hasn't kept up, he said.

The department faced several significant fires in Thompson in 2023 — including a major fire that saw a pharmacy burn down and another blaze that destroyed a hardware store.

But the department is often trying to juggle different types of calls, said Mirus.

"Just because you have one big fire doesn't mean all these other calls for service, such as the ambulance or fire calls, aren't occurring at the same time too," he said.

But he's proud of how the department has responded, in spite of the staffing shortfall.

"Being able to see everyone sort of come together and juggle and balance all that with a major event going on is very impressive."

Recruitment challenges

Mirus said recruiting firefighters in Thompson is challenging because wages aren't quite comparable to southern departments, while the work is remote in comparison to cities like Brandon and Winnipeg. 

"We are losing firefighters at an astronomical level," said Alex Forrest, president of the Manitoba Professional Firefighters Association.

"It's unsustainable right now because we are not getting the number of people that are applying for those positions and we don't have the positions to be able to go out."

He says for several years, the provincial government has starved northern Manitoba of firefighting resources.

Funding for more staff would immediately help ease the workload firefighters face, he said, but training opportunities are also needed.

The city is working with the province, Thompson's fire department and colleges to get more boots on the ground fighting fires, said Smook, who also praised the city's firefighters and paramedics for going above and beyond to keep the community safe.

"The [provincial] government is listening and we've given them some different ideas, and they know how desperate they are," she said.

The city has also looked at paying higher wages to be more competitive with other centres.

Forrest says with a new provincial government in power, he's more hopeful now than he has been in recent years that Thompson's fire department might get better staffing.

But the problem is so serious he worries that the solution won't come quickly enough.

"We need … to make this a priority issue for the province of Manitoba," he said. "It's a tremendously busy department that needs to have the support."