The Corporation of the Township of Zorra

P.O. Box 306, Ingersoll, Ontario N5C 3K5 Tel. (519) 485-2490 • Toll Free 1-888-699-3868 • Fax (519) 485-2520 • E-mail: admin@zorra.ca

Submitted by: John McFarlan, Fire Chief/CEMC Report No: 2020-153

Council Meeting Date: Regular Council - 02 Dec 2020

Subject: Monthly Fire Report for Month Year File: C11/Council Reports RECOMMENDATION: For Council’s information. BACKGROUND & COMMENTS: The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an informative report on Fire Service’s activities during November, 2020. Emergency Management

• Continue to monitor and adapt to the Provincial protocols established by the OFMEM (Office of the Fire Marshall and Emergency Management) and SWPH (Southwest Public Health) in response to COVID-19

Fire Chief

• Reporting on a weekly basis, our PPE consumption/requirements needed and used during responses and well as staffing levels effected by the pandemic to the OFMEM as they monitor the supply of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to first responders.

• Continue participation in regional teleconferences organized by Emergency Management Ontario and Elgin/Oxford Municipal Services relating to COVID 19.

• Final inspection of new Embro Tanker was completed on November 27. • Completed Annual Safeties on all fire apparatus. No major deficiencies or issues found. • Held Zorra Chief's meeting at the Thamesford station to review 2020 and establish capital

equipment requirements for 2021 • Attended the monthly Rural Chiefs of Oxford meeting, where we met with Oxford EMS to

review proposal to integrate medical delegation training into our RFSOC training calendar. • Reviewed Year End Update on Training Officer Activities (report attached) • Hosted a RFSOC fire course (Fire Officer I) as well as certification testing at the Thamesford

station • Continue to work on RFP for new pumper truck with newly established Uniondale truck

committee. Station Activities

• Fire Prevention Committee held the draw for Fire Prevention Week where constituents posted a picture or video of them checking their smoke and CO alarms. The winner of the fire pail package, was Tory and Cori Law from Lakeside.

Report No: 2020-153 Council Date: Regular Council - 02 Dec 2020

The Corporation of the Township of Zorra

P.O. Box 306, Ingersoll, Ontario N5C 3K5 Tel. (519) 485-2490 • Toll Free 1-888-699-3868 • Fax (519) 485-2520 • E-mail: admin@zorra.ca

• Embro station is holding a colouring contest with the students of ZHPS for the new tanker.

Summary of Calls for Month Year – All Stations Type Number

Medical 4 Fire / CO Detector 3 Motor Vehicle- (MVC) 3 Other – Perceived Emergency 1 Fires – Vehicle 2, Field 1 3 Total Calls for Month (as of Nov. 26/20) 14

Month - Year to Date Calls 2019 2020 Year to Date Calls 116 140 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: N/A LINK TO STRATEGIC PLAN: Goal: We are an engaged community that values all members and actively encourages involvement, engagement, openness and transparency. Action: By being open and transparent ATTACHMENTS: Training Officer-Council Report Dec 2020 Here is the Prize for our Smoke & CO Alarm Contest! Approved By: Status: Don MacLeod, Chief Administrative Officer Approved - 25 Nov 2020 Donna Wilson, Director of Corporate Services/Clerk Approved - 25 Nov 2020

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DEPARTMENT: FIRE AND PROTECTIVE SERVICESSUBJECT: END YEAR UPDATE ON TRAINING OFFICER ACTIVITIESREPORT NO. COUNCIL MEETING DATE:

Approved Approved with Amendments OtherResolution #

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND

In 2015, the Office of the Fire Marshal introduced the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Firefighter Standards for training of firefighters. These standards replaced the Provincial Standards that had been in place for a number of years. The transition to the NFPA Standards brings the Province’s firefighter standards in line with all of North America.

The Norwich Fire Service partnered with the four other rural municipal fire departments in Oxford County to provide a fire school type training program for recruits and existing firefighters. This initiative provides in class and practical training for all members and prepares them for certification to NFPA Standards through the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management (OFMEM). Known as the Rural Fire Services of Oxford County (RFSOC) Training Program, the partners are able to effectively and efficiently provide training to more than 300 volunteer firefighters.

In 2020, from January 1 to December 31, RFSOC delivered 20 courses that include the courses listed below to approximately 254 students.

NFPA 1001 Firefighter Level 1 (1 course) NFPA 1001 Firefighter Level 2 (1 course) NFPA 472 Hazmat Awareness (online course) NFPA 472 Hazmat Operations (2 courses) NFPA 1002 Pumper Operations (2 courses) NFPA 1006 General Rescuer (1 course) NFPA 1006 Auto Ex Level 1 (1 course) NFPA 1021 Fire Officer Level 1 (1 course) NFPA 1041 Fire Instructor Level 1 (2 courses) NFPA 1041 Fire Instructor Level 2 (1 course) NFPA 1521 Incident Safety Officer (1 course) NFPA 1035 Fire and Life Safety Educator Level 1 (2 courses) NFPA 1035 Fire and Life Safety Educator Level 2 (1 course) NFPA 1035 Public Information Officer (1 course) Driver Training Program (1 course) Fire Code Part 9 Retrofit (1 course)

The average number of participants in each course was ten (10) students. This includes the recruit training program where twenty-six (26) students participated in 2020 as compared to

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forty (40) students in 2019. Class sizes were also reduced for COVID protocols of social distancing.

As part of this comprehensive program, RFSOC has also obtained accreditation from the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management Academic and Standards Branch for its courses and received the ability to host OFMEM testing following each course.

In 2020, RFSOC administered approximately 241 NFPA exams on behalf of the OFMEM as compared to 240 in 2019.

RFSOC utilized instructors from within their firefighter contingent to deliver all the courses. All instructors are certified or grandfathered to Fire Instructor Level 1. This component of the partnership allows RFSOC to deliver these programs in a cost-effective manner with a considerable cost savings to all partners.

In August 2019, the five (5) Rural Municipalities of Oxford County (Norwich, Blandford-Blenheim, East Zorra-Tavistock, Zorra, South-West Oxford) hired a full-time Training Officer (TO) to assist with the Rural Fire Services of Oxford County (RFSOC) fire training and emergency management training.

DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS

TRAINING OFFICER:To date, the TO has become the coordinator for all courses/testings on behalf of the five rural departments. Additionally, all courses offered through RFSOC have been enhanced with new lesson plans and supplemental material continues to be added for further course development. Course updates will be ongoing as updated curriculum is released every 5 to 8 years.

TO continues to assume full responsibility for all aspects of the recruit training program, while working with fire chiefs to facilitate training resources for their respective training sites.

RFSOC is part of a pilot project of 1 of 10 municipalities in the province currently partaking in the OFM remote-site testing. This testing allows RFSOC complete control of the written and practical testing for provincial certification. The benefit for RFSOC is immediate testing results, autonomy in practical skills evaluations, internal tracking of all results, as well as timelier turn around on re-writing tests.

The TO has been actively working to build the instructor pool which is being expanded to represent members from all 5 municipalities. This results in inter-departmental relationships between personnel as well as commonalities in operations between municipalities.

NEW INITIATIVES:TO has built a Driver Training Program designed to assist firefighters in preparation for D license testing. TO has also been working on developing a full Driver Certification Program with the intent that RFSOC would be able to test and issue full DZ licensing with MTO approval.

In 2021, the TO will become the coordinator for all medical training (First Aid/Medical Delegation/AED) across the 5 municipalities working together with EMS.

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RFSOC has centralized a library of the training textbooks that are used for courses. With the cost of each textbook averaging over $100 each, TO has coded textbooks, signs them in/out and tracks usage. Currently there over 25 textbooks out at any given time (dependent on courses running) which results in savings for each municipality with firefighters taking training.

TO maintains a master tracking list with all of the courses each firefighter takes along with pass and fail rates for courses. Since the start of remote-site testing, RFSOC has been tracking written testing and there is an 82% success rate in written testing.

2021 RECRUIT CLASS:The 2021 Recruit Class will have 22 RFSOC recruits (7 Norwich, 5 Zorra, 2 Blandford-Blenheim, 3 SWOX, 6 East Zorra-Tavistock) and an additional 22 recruits from outside RFSOC (12 Central Elgin, 8 Southwold, 2 Aylmer). The additional revenue generated will help offset the RFSOC cost for training by bringing in over $30,000 (22 x $1,500 each).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:TO is a member of the Ontario Association of Fire Training Officers (OAFTO) who meet regularly to share resources and knowledge related to training across the province.

TO has completed the NFPA 1031 Fire Inspector Level 1 provincial testing along with the connected courses (Part 2&6 of Fire Code/Courtroom Procedures/Part 9 Fire Code), which facilitated the completion of the Inspector training program.

INTERDEPARTMENTAL IMPLICATIONSNONE

COST/BENEFIT ANALYSISTO has actively worked with surrounding municipalities to register firefighters into RFSOC courses at pre-set costs. This has resulted in over $22,850 in outside revenue coming into RFSOC for 2020 in which profits will be divided by the five (5) RFSOC members and used to purchase training resources. As a result, RFSOC has even lower costs to delivering the courses to our own firefighters (see Appendix A).

With some third-party firefighter education facilities no longer offering volunteer firefighter training, the savings for RFSOC recruit training have increased greatly. To send 26 recruits (2020 class size) to the next cheapest school would cost $207,870 where RFSOC was able to teach it for $29,160 for a net saving of $178,710. The cost per student for a RFSOC student to take Firefighter 1 and 2 as well as Hazmat Awareness and Operations is $1,410 whereas it would cost $7,995 at the next cheapest school.

CONCLUSIONThe Training Officer position continues to demonstrate efficiency by working closely with the Chiefs to keep RFSOC training at high standards to meet provincial certification requirements as well as communicating promptly and regularly with those training with us. Further, the TO continues to ensure that records management is being maintained to the highest standard as required by the Office of the Fire Marshal and the Ministry of Labour.

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RECOMMENDATIONIt is recommended that Staff Report _______ entitled “End Year Update on Training Officer Activities” be received as information.

ATTACHMENTS

Appendix A – NFPA Course Fees

Prepared by: Approved by:Derek Van PageeTraining Officer – Rural Fire Services of Oxford County

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APPENDIX ANFPA COURSE FEES

Course Fees for RFSOC do not include outside revenue from surrounding municipalities that sign up for our training. These fees further reduce RFSOC costs and vary per offering and course. Total for 2020 at this time is $22,850 revenue.

Subject/Cost per Student RFSOC$

South West Fire Academy

$

FESTI$

Grimsby Fire and Training Centre

$

Conestoga College

$

NFPA 1001 Firefighter 1/2, Hazmat Awareness and Ops 1,410 7,995 8,016 (FF1/2

only) NA Full-time program

NFPA 1021 Fire Instructor 1 55 N/A 925 375 Full-time program

NFPA 1021 Fire Instructor 2 135 N/A N/A N/A N/A

NFPA 1006 General Rescue 170 595 954 N/A N/A

NFPA 1002 Pump Ops 220 595 N/A N/A Full-time program

Ontario Fire Code Court Room Procedures N/A* N/A N/A 250 N/A

Ontario Fire Code Part 2 & 6 N/A* N/A N/A 350 N/A

Ontario Fire Code Part 9 N/A* N/A N/A 350 N/A

NFPA 1072 Hazardous Materials Operations 280 595 456 N/A Full-time

program

NFPA 1521 Incident Safety Officer 20 N/A N/A N/A N/A

NFPA 1021 Fire Officer Level 1 150 495 1335 375 N/A

NFPA 1021 Fire Officer Level 2 100 N/A N/A 375 N/A

Fire Life Safety Educator Lev. 1 25 N/A N/A 250 Full-time program

Fire Life Safety Educator Lev. 2 & PIO 30 N/A N/A 360 N/A

NA – at the time of the writing of this document the course was not offered by the agency.N/A* - to be offered in 2021N/A – not offeredFor RFSOC to host the 2020 class of 26 recruits through Firefighter 1,2, Hazmat Awareness and Hazmat Operations the cost is $36,660 versus $207,870 at another school. With the addition of 5 Non-RFSOC recruits joining our class, RFSOC charges $7,500 for them. This further reduces our cost to $29,160 so the savings for one recruit class is $178,710. This does not include additional costs for travel and accommodations which would be increased if a recruit attended a third-party training provider.

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