The city received 131 applications for volunteer firefighter positions during the 2023/24 recruitment process, which capped off on April 15.
Of these applicants, 48 did not reside in a volunteer district, 21 withdrew or did not respond to phone calls and 56 proceeded for physical testing.
With nine more candidates dropping off, the city ended up with 47 applicants advancing to the interview stage of the recruitment process. On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Jesse Oshell told Sudbury.com that hiring was ongoing and they’d have final numbers for positions offered soon.
The previous intake year saw 76 people apply for volunteer firefighter positions, of whom 42 ended up being offered positions.
This year’s numbers are shared in a report on the city’s latest volunteer firefighter recruitment and training efforts, tabled by Oshell and fellow Deputy Chief Nathan Melin for the June 25 city council meeting.
Volunteer firefighter recruitment and training has been a popular topic of discussion and debate in recent years, particularly as the city has moved to amalgamate outlying fire halls, due at least in part to dwindling volunteerism.
For this same meeting on June 25, Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée and Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit tabled a motion to keep the Beaver Lake station open until at least Sept. 15, 2025. It’s currently slated to close by the end of the month due to not enough volunteer firefighters signing up.
Further, the motion asks the city to “expand efforts to recruit and retrain volunteers at the Beaver Lake station” to meet the minimum goal of getting 11 volunteer firefighters at the station to remain open. The number most insurers require to consider an area “protected” is 15.
Advocates for outlying communities’ volunteer firefighters have been consistent in requesting more flexibility in training requirements to ensure more people are able to get through it and serve their communities.
In their report, Melin and Oshell point to the following points of flexibility in the 2024 program:
- Any volunteer firefighter who could not write the certification provincial exam due to missing one- to three-day of certification training has been contacted and invited to take in their missing days during this year’s volunteer recruitment certification training.
- Third-party training opportunities through regional training centres endorsed by the Office of the Fire Marshal are another opportunity, with a tuition reimbursement plan in place.
- The certification working group is meeting monthly to find other opportunities for certification training.
- Volunteer firefighters who require certification training are invited to fill in empty spots at any future recruitment training programs.
After the 2023 recruitment process, they also reviewed their volunteer firefighter recruitment process “to make it simpler, improve communication, and make it easier to apply,” according to the report.
In response, four open houses were held in Garson, Val Therese, Chelmsford and Waters, more information has been posted to the city’s website, and they now contact applicants by mail, email and phone to keep them informed about important dates and requirements.
Meanwhile, the city is also marching toward a July 1, 2026, deadline to meet new regulatory training requirements imposed by the province. Of the 204 volunteer firefighters, 40 do not have 1001-Firefighter Level 1 certification and are not attending training for it, while 67 do not have Level 2 certification.
Of the 40 not signed up for Level 1 training, 11 are on a leave of absence. This leaves 29, of whom 22 do not have a plan to achieve certification.
“The service has contacted each of those 22 individuals to determine their individual path to achieve certification,” according to the report.
“In addition, we have requested a permanent employment schedule to identify opportunities for additional weekday (daytime) certification training dates.”
The city’s 2024 training schedule was released as part of next week’s report. Both Level 1 and Level 2 training include 10 day-long in-person sessions apiece, with 2024 volunteer firefighter recruits to commence with Level 1 training on Aug. 25, with most subsequent training taking place on subsequent Sundays.
Other training schedules of a similar nature have been set up for past years’ recruits and existing volunteer firefighters.
The June 25 city council meeting begins at 6 p.m. and can be viewed in-person at Tom Davies Square or livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
