There’s been a stalemate in the ongoing issues regarding the former Renfrew fire chief.
No official update has been made since the Town of Renfrew released a statement that it was sticking to its new policy making it mandatory for fire chiefs to retire at age 60. Former chief Guy Longtin was relieved from his position on May 7 and had issued a lawyer letter stating his intention to file a claim.
On May 22 Renfrew council went in camera at the end of its regular council meeting for an hour to discuss potential litigation involving the former fire chief.
When council came back into the public portion of the meeting Reeve Peter Emon noted “it was a session meant to bring council up-to-date on potential litigation and they will update council as necessary if there are any changes.”
However, reaction continues to pour in.
The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC) recently released a statement on the issue: “Upon receipt of legal counsel, OAFC is of the opinion that actions to mandate a retirement age for chief fire officers contravenes section 41(2) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997 (FPPA) which states, '(a) a person shall be deemed not to be a firefighter if, (a) in the opinion of the board, he or she exercises managerial functions or is employed in a confidential capacity in matters relating to labour relations, (b) he or she is a person designated under subsection 54(4).'”
It is clear that a chief fire officer, executing managerial functions, is excluded from the definition of a “firefighter” in Part IX of the FPPA. The OAFC supports the position that a chief fire officer is not subject to mandatory retirement.
The OAFC does not support the dismissal of a chief fire officer, who regularly exercises managerial functions, based on the grounds of his or her age.”
Stephen Hernen is the president of the association and would not speak directly to the situation in Renfrew but acknowledged being a firefighter is a hard physical job and supported retirement for career front firefighters at the age of 60.
However, he compared the chief’s role differently.
“The fire chief is like a hockey coach,” said Hernen. “The coach does not go out on the ice for the penalty shot, he assigns the best member of the team to complete the task. He is not physically doing the task. The coach is just standing there watching.”
As far as Hernen knows this is the first time a municipality has forced a fire chief into retirement due to their age and this would be a major change if it were ever applied to all chiefs.
“It would have a huge impact as quite a few chiefs are over 60,” said Hernen. “It would be far reaching and unnecessary. Running a command carries stress but not the same stress as carrying a hose in.”
In 2017 the Town of Arnprior hired fire Chief Jeff Crawford who is over 60.
Michael Wildman, chief administrative officer for Arnprior agrees with the OAFC.
“It does not apply to chiefs because fire chiefs are exempt from the mandatory retirement because they are considered to be executing management functions,” said Wildman in an email. “And further, chiefs are not regularly involved in front line suppression.”
Wildman says the town has reaped the benefits of having a chief over 60 with his extensive experiences as a firefighter.
“Chief Crawford brings with him a combination of professional fire fighting experience and volunteer fire fighting experience totalling about 50 years. For a position as important as the fire chief, extensive experience and training is not only needed, it is critical,” said Wildman. “The fire chief must be a seasoned and experienced leader and professional that can only achieve this level of competency with many years of experience. This tends to mean fire professionals who are in the latter part of their career. Chief Crawford has demonstrated that his extensive experience is a tremendous asset to the Town of Arnprior.”
Link to original article in Renfrew Mercury: Former Renfrew fire chief receives support from Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs