Rocky View County’s (RVC) director of disaster services and fire chief, Randy Smith, plans to mend the relationship between the county and the firefighters’ union.
Smith, who was appointed as the director of disaster services May 27, has been the acting interim director since Jan. 6, when he resigned from his position with the Innisfil Fire and Rescue Service, located in Ontario, Jan. 3, 2014.
Smith assumes responsibilities for the manager of community services, including overseeing fire, enforcement, community services and other departments.
Ted Gard vacated the position after he retired Aug. 30.
“I was excited to come to Rocky View and to be back in Alberta,” Smith said. “I did a lot of research on Rocky View before I came, and I approached it with an open mind and positive attitude. Administration has taken the same attitude and the union has responded positively, it’s been great and we have moved forward.”
Smith took the helm at a rocky time for the county’s fire services.
RVC officials and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 4794 entered into negotiations in the fall of 2010 and began arbitration Feb. 23, 2013.
The negotiations resulted in changes implemented by the county that saw layoffs, shifts and crew reductions, fire stations being shut down due to lack of staff and increased emergency response times.
Three years ago, the Rocky View County Fire Department operated with as many as seven firefighters per shift over a 24-hour period.
Over the course of the past four years, since the fire department unionized in April 2010, the number of firefighters has been reduced to four per shift, on a rotating schedule of one day on, two days off, one day on, four days off for full-time firefighters.
On Feb. 29, 2012, seven full-time firefighters and one chief fire marshal were laid off.
“It’s been a tough couple of years ... but the past is the past,” Smith said. “I can tell you that the union executive is on board to move forward and I’m ready to move forward.”
RVC Fire Services is in the process of opening the new Bearspaw Fire Station, which would service the northwest side of the county.
The station will employ one fire chief, three paid on-call volunteer firefighters and will be manned “24-7”.
“(The opening of the Bearspaw Fire Station) will help an awful lot (with response times in the county),” Smith said. “It’s going to be placing apparatus (fire trucks) in the northwest section of the county.”
Rural response times are also on the radar for the new director, and according to Smith, negotiations are in the works with the Beiseker volunteer fire station to help respond to calls in the Irricana area – an area currently without direct coverage.
Smith cautioned that residents living in rural areas – while covered by Rocky View Fire Services – wouldn’t be seeing a station on every corner.
“People that choose to live in rural areas need to understand that we can’t have a station on every corner, we don’t have police on every corner,” he said.
