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The following is an extract from a comment made on our Municipal Facebook page by Darryl Johnson with CNP Search & Rescue on the recent controversial fire story in Coleman, and the subsequent Municipal Media Release - Fire Response Time (Nov.09/12).
Darryl Johnson
As a member of Protective Services (Rescue) I can confirm that the times reported by the Municipality are correct and accurate as they are taken from the official record from our 911 Dispatch Centre.
Rescue personnel supported our Fire personnel at this incident. Our Municipal Rescue personnel were called out to assist fire personnel as standard operating procedure when a fire such as this occurs - we support the fire operation by conducting scene/traffic control, provision of firefighter safety checks, breathing apparatus refilling, etc.
The negative comments being made in this community and through the social media network are very hurtful to all of us as volunteer members who are trying to serve our community.
The current volunteer members, both new and old, are dedicating our personal time and energy to continue to make Crowsnest Pass a wonderful place to live. As volunteers we are trying to move forward through these very difficult times. Many of us are finding the ongoing negative and erroneous information about our Protective Services organization to more of an anchor chain than a lifeline for us.
As volunteer fire and rescue personnel we are focusing on ensuring every member is fully and formally trained, and that our services meet national standards.
I understand change of this magnitude is difficult and can be emotionally challenging, however we are seeing many positive aspects with the new structure through such things as training, integration between stations, a full-time Fire Chief who is dedicated to ensuring us as volunteers are given the training and support we need and he is also fully committed to providing our community with the best protective services possible.
Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.
41 comments:
Daryl can say what he wants, I live nearby and watched it unfold. It was embarrassing to say the least. Rescue was not one of the first on scene so he is getting his information from second hand sources. I saw it with my own eyes. It took at least 20 minutes for Coleman to arrive. They had maybe two guys, who had no idea what they were doing, so the drove to a hydrant, parked and stood around till the next truck arrived. It was at least 10 minutes after the first truck arrived that they actually had any water on the fire. Terrible!
On a side note, Daryl talks about training, but nowhere else in Alberta is there such a thing as a rescue squad, so what standards do they train to?? Apparantly this chief is only certified in BC so how can he improve the training here??
This whole situation is embarrassing!
what I heard was that there was a propane truck parked by the firehall and the truck couldn't get through. Daryl was right with the quick response.
Anon @9:46
That was uncalled for. If you have something to say, say it. I won't tolerate name calling. Name calling is an insult. Not an argument.
JP
I think the argument here is not when the fire trucks arrived on the scene but how long it took before they actually got water on the fire?
This still does not answer why anyone should be verbally abusive to a young reporter, and this is the story. She gave two sides of the story. If the first responders arrived within 10 minutes and then waited for the others to arrive in order to get going – obviously the reporter did the story as it was presented to her. It seems those at the top do not function very well under stress. If we get a world class emergency system which does not reduce response times and costs two or three times more – then what is the efficiency? One can always do more with more money.
Move on people of the CNP. I am tired of your bickering and discontent with everything and anything. Enough is enough. The CNP is an eyesore to Alberta. Grow up and move on, it's high time the CNP entered the 21st century, change is hard.....but required now before it's too late.
2500 local residents signed a petitioning, in record time, voicing their displeasure with our council and the looming tax hikes. Who is supposed to move on?
Does anyone know the ETA for a structure fire in Hillcrest if there is a train blocking the crossing? My understanding is there is maybe 1 volunteer fireman who resides in Hillcrest who could respond.
Thanks Daryl, for your input and passion; years of service to this community with little reward. We owe you so much. As for the truth, I believe that when the ship sinks, the scum will always come to the top.
Anonymous said...
Does anyone know the ETA for a structure fire in Hillcrest if there is a train blocking the crossing? My understanding is there is maybe 1 volunteer fireman who resides in Hillcrest who could respond.
Your panties are safe. Four years ago there was a major fire in east Blairmore. It was 5:45 in the morning @ -28c. The reponse time, a bit over 7 minutes. Unbievable! An inboung CPR train from the east braked to a stop for a hour and a half to allow emergency vehicle access. I still sleep in my same bed. Thank you station 24, EMS and the CPR. The 911 call does go out to Lethbridge CPR Yards and they react accordingly.
Re.: 2500 residents signing the petition. How is it we elected magnificent seven and are now stuck with seven ostriches?
What about the "Feelings" of the voluteer firemen who were let go. I have the feeling Rescue was working with administartion when the plan was laid out to go after the Blairmore fire chief. Council connected the dots, they knew what would happen, but they needed the support of Rescue to pull it off. I wonder how Daryl would feel if the shoe was on the other foot. Looks like he is fitting in well with the new fire chief and councils plan for the fire departments. Now they can re-apply and suck up to these guys if they want back on. Makes me sick those volunteer firemen have been doing just that and longer than Daryl and most of the rescue guys have lived here. The fact is if they had supported the firemen we would not be in this mess.
"feelings" - seriously?
Too much drama!
John i get the feeling you have opened Pandoras Box here. I have seen this coming for a while and knew right from the first meeting that when Rescue didn't side with the firemen that they were in trouble. Should have seen that coming they didnt get along when they were under the same roof before. Maybe now people will say what they feel. This community will take decades to heal from this. And sadly that will be this councils legacy. Believe me people hold things like this dearly there really is no going back now. Daryl should have left well enough alone its like rubbing salt in an open wound. With that post he took things to another level.
MR. Rosner, no one twisted their arm to hand in their pagers, what dont you get.
Mr. Rosner; your train of thought is losing me. Perhaps you should write a book about what you see in your chrystal ball, and I am not pro council here.
Anon 4:26 its called a brotherhood. sticking together, they have looked after this community for decades. They looked after us and now i am showing my support for them. sorry you dont get it.
Mr. Johnson is just demonstrating some much needed leadership.
Anon 5:01 i have warned the public before only to be ignored---Bridgegate and Petition of previous council. Be patient i am sure there is more to come. Anon 5:47 Yes he is but is it coincidence that things have worked out well for Daryl and Rescue
One thing is sure no matter where one stands in this debate. No one on our council has the necessary skills to bring this issue to some kind of dignified close. It will be up to the next council to do this. This council is working under a nutty assumption that everyone who sat in their chairs before them was not capable, and they are going to fix all of our problems, once and for all. This kind of attitude will cost all of us a lot of tax dollars in the near future. This is not hard to see, looking up from the street.
The fireman hand in their pagers in protest.Council says this is not our fault, no one forced them.Those are facts.But reality is any council with any skills would have at least tried to come to an agreement with the fireman.Council is supposedly the LEADERS of the community.Why was there no effort made?I think it was all part of the plan. How else could they get rid of 90 fireman that they did not want?They knew exactly what the reaction would be when they fired the chief.The LEADERS of this community do not care for anything or anybody.They only care about their plan.How else could there be 2500 signatures on a petition and our LEADERS barely blink an eye.
Mr. Rosner; If it is fact then please feel free to grace the pixels of my laptop, here. Conjecture is the work of a troll.
Why do we have a separate Fire and Rescue department? The next step is to join them as one. Look out Daryl your volunteer department is next.
Dear Conspiracy Theorists, Council Haters and Government Overthrowers,
Did I miss something?? Have we not seen ample information that the response time was perfectly within reason? Is the "source" not immediately discredited by his own statement that he has absolutely no fire training or experience? Why is this still an issue? You may disagree with council's decisions but you cannot keep doubling down on an opinion that clearly does not utilize the available, factual information. Sorry, sometimes houses just burn down. There is not a hidden agenda here.
As for the story and possible lawsuit, I'm not sure whether the legals should be called in but I do hope it's enough to scare the Herald straight. The goal of a journalist should be to get to the truth, using the best methodology available. Sometimes that is done through relaying two sides of the story, sometime it should simply be done by relaying the facts. If a group started arguing that the world was flat, would you really need to give "their side of the story"? Could you not just offer the proven science that renders their argument invalid?
I don't think Albert was bullying, I think he was just pissed off. And I don't blame him.
2500 locals signed a petition disapproving how our council is conducting our business because we still believe the earth is flat and our council is of the opinion that it is not. On this we can agree with our council,otherwise the seem to be saddling our small community with a lot of unnecessary and unaffordable bureaucratic baggage. We are asked to move on, whereas they, (the council) pretend nothing happened - just stay the course. If someone intrudes into the holly strategic plan, a threat of court action may keep them in their place. Albert may have been pissed of, not everyone had a good day everyday. This is still no reason to bully a young reporter. As the above writer admits, the threat of legal action against a local paper is just another "bully" tactic. Seems very pervasive.
8:03; Good point. Should not there be a consultant hired as to the state of the earth to settle this?
What I don't understand is all the fellows whose butt is on the line say they were at the fire in under 10 minutes and all the actual witnesses say it was over 20. Then the public gets these big newsletters stating how wonderful the response time was. A true leader would listen to both sides then do an investigation, not just come out swinging and try to make the public shut up with threats and bullying. The truth is out there and it's up to the mayor to find it.
Anon 6:55 you are right and my original comment was not to give the intent that someone with Rescue had worked with administration to target the Blairmore Fire Chief.
But council did make the commitment to restructure the fire/rescue departments. The full time fire chief and director of protective and community services were hired and the plan was put into place. I don’t know at what point Rescue made the decision to support the restructuring and don’t believe they were involved in the dismissal of the Blairmore Fire Chief. When the rest of the firemen turned in their pagers I initially thought Rescue was caught in the middle. And I guess if someone is laying out in the bush or trapped in a vehicle accident all the politics is secondary. It is obvious now by Daryll’s letter that rescue fully supports the restructuring. Myself and over 2500 residents disagree.
The petition numbers that keeps coming back is getting a little stale. Rosner talks of brotherhood with the firemen. Just for the sake of arguing, what if Margetak did something underhanded and against the law, would he still have his "brotherhood" behind him. I am just saying.
Anon 9:47 Normally when you terminate someone there is a process first. Usually starts with a verbal warning, then letters of disipline and then finally the termination.I believe the fire chief has retained his own lawyer so sooner or later the truth will come out.
But you know what, none of this matters, the damage is done.Did council do 1 thing to try and work with the fireman?Council wanted the fireman to quit, so that they have the built in excuse that it is not their fault.
As for the petition going stale you have a point as council is simply ignoring it.We are so differant then anywhere else. If you had this high of an outrage anywhere else those councils would very quickly make ammendments to appease the people. But here in the CNP all 7 members of council know that they will not be reelected, many if not all will not even run and therefore they will do as they please. Look on Gallants blog and you will see this.
Wow, the story is getting more desperate. If that was the case, adults would have handled the situation much better to start with. First it was insubordination, then the illegal storage of "high explosives," now what? The web we spin sometimes gets in the way of reality. He was an obstacle to be removed - consequences to be handled after the fact.
Regarding the 2500 residents petition. This is a factual event. The only stale part of this story is how our council is responding to this fact. Generating this petition is the only factual accomplishment of our elected officials. Stay the course simply means the next council will have to worry how to raise tax dollars to pay for this "course." The "Four Horsmen" had more reason between them than our "Seven Ostriches."
Back to the fire response time episode. So what if search and rescue was there in 10 minutes? They aren't firemen!
Anonymous said...
Back to the fire response time episode. So what if search and rescue was there in 10 minutes? They aren't firemen!
A very good point. "Emergency reponse time" should be determined by the arrival of the proper equipment and not by how fast an ambulance or Search and Rescue arrives at a fire. Maybe there is some truth to the reports of a lot of standing around at the scene.
Simple. What was the time of arrival of the pumper truck?
The answer to this debate can only come with the time when 'water' first hit the fire. It's that simple. Some say it was anywhere from 20-40 minutes. If that is true, it is no wonder the structure burned to the ground, and we living in this community in fact do NOT have adequate fire protection.
November 11, 2012 2:25 PM
Kudos for Chief Margetak and his crew for responding so fast to save your house. Unfortunately a call to CPR isn't going to make a difference when its train is stuck across the drifted tracks at river bottom. It actually happens quite frequently. Blairmore fireman aren't going to be able to get to a house in Hillcrest in 10 minutes. And FYI I don't wear panties.
4:19; Adequate fire protection will come with the $1.2 million "Quinte" fire truck. Just a huge, useless piece of high centering, lumbering, unmanouverable equipment. A poor excuse for a rig that will deliver 300 gallons of water and a huge ladder to your house fire. I hope that this doesn't come to pass.
Anon 9:47AM You must be mistaking --The brotherhood is what the firemen share thats why they handed in their pagers in support of the Blairmore fire chief. I am not with any fire department but am backing these guys 100%. As far as Jamie doing something illegal perhaps you could come out from under your Anon persona and eloborate on that. Maybe you are referring to the bullshit story about the illegal storage of fireworks.
Our 21 Century leadership is sill trying to come up with a better explanation for what they have done to our community. This whole thing would be pretty grotesque, if it was not for the coming tax bill. Perhaps they will buy 5 pages (with color) in the Herald to tell us otherwise. Or maybe not in the Herald.
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