Whitewater Region (WWR) is working toward formalizing the practice of firefighters serving as first responders for medical emergencies other than fires.
However, that is not a foregone conclusion, despite the time and effort Fire Chief Jonathan McLaren and WWR administration staff had put into the proposal presented to council at its May 21 meeting. Council debated a three-part recommendation which would have authorized the preparation of a Tiered Medical Response Agreement with the County of Renfrew Paramedic Service; authorized staff to initiate training and certification programs and directed staff to amend the necessary by-laws.
The report with the recommendations was initiated in a March 2024 meeting when Councillor Mark Bell brought the topic to council. Subsequently staff was directed to investigate the cost and impact of increasing the fire department’s service level.
Chief McLaren told council there is a long-standing history across Ontario of fire departments supporting paramedic services by responding to medical calls.
“While this is less common in Renfrew County, it is well-established among both career and on-call volunteer fire departments elsewhere in the province,” he said.
He estimated the enhanced level of service would generate 20 to 25 calls for assistance annually.
“The intention of tiered response is to provide a clear response time advantage on-scene arrival by one of the other partners,” he said. “It can deal with things like life-threatening emergencies, cardiac arrest, and unconsciousness.”
Response to medical calls is not new for WWR firefighters, Chief McLaren said.
“The fire department has responded to a variety of medical calls, including lift assists, locked door rescues, motor vehicle accidents, and various types of traumatic injuries,” he said.
The first-year cost would include purchase of some equipment to make sure all units responding to calls had the needed supplies and equipment. At the end of that year or early in the next, training equipment would be purchased, including CPR dummies.
The cost to the township to implement the proposed schedule was estimated to be $2,500 in the first year, $34,000 in the second, when more equipment would be purchased, and $14,000 annually thereafter. An annual wage increase of $6,000 would be anticipated.
“I think the outline of this is great,” said Coun. Bell. “It’s what my vision was whenever I put this forward. Our community is pretty under-serviced. At this time, we have bases only in Renfrew, Pembroke, and Eganville and that leaves a very large gap in our community. If you have somebody that goes unconscious or VSA (vital signs absent) out in Westmeath, sometimes you can be waiting 20 to 25 minutes for an ambulance and sometimes it's longer than that, up to 45 minutes to an hour.”
He said he was anticipating “a little bit of pushback” on the financial side.
“But when you look at $68,500 over the first three years, it represents less than one per cent of our budget annually,” he said. “I think that's reasonable.”
Councillor Connie Tabbert said she was “a little leery” when this motion first came forward.
“Our firefighters are volunteers, and they may not have the time to add more onto their plate, but after speaking with the chief and with Mark (Coun. Bell) I'm in favour of this. Our firefighters are willing to help people in our community, and we should be willing to support them.”
Councillor Joe Trimm said he agreed with his colleagues.
“I just was hoping it wouldn't cost as much,” he said. “This service is needed, and maybe I was being a bit naïve when I was hoping it wouldn't cost as much.”
Councillor Mike Moore said he was surprised this motion was already presented at the approval stage.
“I thought it would be coming back as information, and then moving on to the next budget,” he said.
He had several questions.
“Will our firefighters be trained enough to not be held responsible should there be a lawsuit?” he asked. “I think maybe the CAO or someone should look into the legalities of this.”
He also wondered whether a base in Whitewater would be deemed less urgent if firefighters were providing the enhanced services.
Chief McLaren said one of the best ways of protecting against a lawsuit, is to train personnel to a recognized standard.
“We’re not pursuing these medical calls based on basic first aid and CPR; we're going above and beyond to the first responder training,” he said.
Chief McLaren said his proposal would not diminish the priority given to establishing a paramedics base in WWR.
“We’re not a solution to a shortage of paramedics, or paramedic response times, or anything like that. We're just an augmentation, or a stop gap, until their arrival.”
For Deputy Mayor Cathy Regier, concerns about costs were also front and center.
“I know you weigh that against someone having a cardiac arrest and you look at that and think ‘well, if it can save a life ….’” she said. “My concern is, we already have our firefighters who are CPR trained and first aid trained. Am I missing something here?”
Chief McLaren responded that, apart from the proposal, at some time in the future the fire department will be looking at increasing the level of medical training for the firefighters.
“Basic first aid and CPR have their roles and are very important,” he said. “But what we respond to, particularly the MVCs, (motor vehicle collisions) really do require a higher level of training than we're providing currently. The paramedics are fantastic, but if there's multiple casualties, our staff still perform a lot of the basic medical support. Also, we, at times, are going to be available to respond quickly. If it’s a cardiac arrest, early CPR and de-fib are key to survival.”
CAO Ivan Burton confirmed the augmented service level will trigger no additional premiums.
Councillor Chris Olmstead said “it’s all about numbers.” He referred to the average response time of 7 minutes, 30 seconds for fire calls and recalled a family emergency last December.
“I waited approximately 37 minutes and 30 seconds for help of any kind to show up. If a firefighter would have shown up, they probably would have had the sense to get the defibrillator (kept at the municipal building, about a block away from the scene of that emergency.) When you're undergoing an event this tragic and it’s out of hand and everybody's running around trying to figure things out, all I need is one guy to show up and know the next thing to do. With everybody losing their minds not one of us thought ‘hey, the defibrillator’s just over there.’ I would have paid anything to have somebody there within seven minutes and 30 seconds.”
Council passed a motion to receive the present report for information purposes, direct staff to return with this topic as part of the 2026 budget deliberations, and thirdly, authorize the preparation and communications for a tiered medical response agreement with the County of Renfrew.
Coun. Tabbert called for a recorded vote which passed 5-2 with Deputy-Mayor Regier and Coun. Tabbert opposing the motion with the other five members of council, including Mayor Neil Nicholson, voting in favour.