Needing a rescue

Modern firefighting requires specialized, expensive equipment and intensive training.

Volunteer departments, at least in Nova Scotia, also ask firefighters to give their free time to raise money to purchase equipment.

That commitment of time may discourage some men and women from volunteering, and as a page 3 story this week reports, there is concern that too few people are coming forward to replace retiring firefighters.

Fire chief Robbie Morgan figures local firefighters spend at least 10 per cent of their department hours in fundraising.

Other departments see considerably more time spent fundraising.

Doug Dort, president of the Pictou County Firefighters Association, said earlier this year that firefighters in his county spend 50 to 60 per cent of their time fundraising to help purchase basic equipment.

Police officers and paramedics aren’t asked to buy their own equipment, so why should communities ask that of firefighters, Dort said.

His question is worth public debate in Nova Scotia. It’s time to consider whether more shouldn’t be done not just to provide equipment, but also to compensate firefighters for the time spent at fires or undergoing trained.

It may even be worth looking at what we ask of small business owners who are left shorthanded as an employee rushes off to fight a fire or extract a victim from a car crash.

Fire protection is something we need to be certain about.