Municipal Track - Friday March 28

 

Please scroll down to below the agenda for presentation summaries.

 

Friday March 28, 2025
Time	Topic	Presenter	Location
6:30am - 7:00pm	Registration		Activity Desk
7:00am - 8:00am	Breakfast		Waterhouse Ballroom
8:00am - 8:15am	Opening Remarks		Waterhouse Ballroom
8:15am - 8:45am	Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) Update	Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) Executive Team	Waterhouse Ballroom with the Main Track
8:45am - 9:15am	What is new at the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC)?	OAFC President Deputy Chief Rob Grimwood	Waterhouse Ballroom with the Main Track
9:15am - 10:15am	Keynote: Emerging Stronger: The 7 Gifts From Burnout	Arjuna George	Waterhouse Ballroom with the Main Track
10:15am - 10:30am	Coffee Break		Ballroom Conference Hallway
10:30am - 11:30am	Cancer Prevention	Deputy Chief Rob Grimwood	TBD
11:30am - 12:00pm	Asset Management and Fleet Replacement	Fire Chief Jeremy Parkin	TBD
12:00pm - 1:00pm	Lunch		Peninsula
1:00pm - 2:00pm	Mental Health	Deputy Chief Rob Grimwood	TBD
2:00pm - 2:45pm	Shared Services	Fire Chief Chris Harrow	TBD
2:45pm - 3:00pm	Coffee Break		Ballroom Conference Hallway
3:00pm - 4:00pm	Mandatory Certification	Deputy Fire Marshal John McBeth, OFM	TBD
4:00pm - 5:00pm	Establishing and Regulating By-law/Level of Service to Provide Panel	Deputy Fire Marshal Carrie Clark, OFM and 3 Fire Chiefs	TBD
4:00pm - 8:00pm	Trade Show		Legacy Hall
4:00pm - 8:00pm	Networking Reception on Trade Show Floor		Legacy Hall

 

Presentation Summaries

 

Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) Update

An update from the Office of the Fire Marshal Executive Team.

 

What is new at the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC)?

Learn about what is new at the OAFC, including member services like the new Chief Officer Peer Support Program, as well as exciting changes to upcoming events, recent discussions with government leaders on strategic priorities and more.

 

Keynote: Emerging Stronger: The 7 Gifts From Burnout

The 7 Gifts from Burnout presentation is a 60-minute session aimed at fire chiefs, focusing on the transformative potential that burnout can offer when approached with the right mindset and tools. The presentation begins by exploring the nature of burnout, highlighting its emotional, physical, and mental toll on individuals. Through personal stories, such as "The Day I Almost Died," the presentation emphasizes the seriousness of burnout and introduces seven key gifts that can emerge from the experience:

• Gift of Awareness: Understanding one's stress, emotions, and physical body. Techniques such as box breathing and the physiological sigh are introduced as tools for self-regulation.
• Gift of Boundaries: Learning to set and enforce personal boundaries to protect against overwhelm, including the importance of saying "no" and managing one’s "stress plate."
• Gift of Emotional Intelligence: Emphasizing self-regulation, purpose, and values, and how these contribute to greater resilience and understanding.

The session encourages self-care practices like TRE (Tension and Trauma Releasing Exercises), the importance of connection, and reframing time management as energy management to maintain overall well-being.

 

Cancer Prevention

A study by the Occupational Cancer Research Centre found that Ontario firefighters have an increased risk of developing certain cancers, including testicular cancer, melanoma and prostate cancer, when compared with other workers in Ontario. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has reclassified firefighting as a Group 1 human carcinogen (cancer-causing). Because of this, in Ontario, 19 cancers are presumed to be occupational in nature (presumptive legislation) for firefighters and fire investigators, which has resulted in more than $500,000,000 in WSIB costs, costs borne by both the province and municipalities. And the human toll and suffering of firefighter cancer has resulted in hundreds of firefighters dying in the line of duty.

But there are things that fire departments can do to reduce the prevalence of firefighter cancer. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development has produced a “Firefighter Cancer Prevention Checklist” which has been beneficial to Fire Chiefs in understanding how they can implement Cancer Prevention Programs. This presentation will look at the current landscape and data related to firefighter cancers, explore how fire department cancer prevention programs can be effective and assist Municipal Leaders with understanding how they can support their local fire departments to reduce this very serious risk.

 

Asset Management and Fleet Replacement

With the rising costs of apparatus and fire department equipment, fire chiefs are tasked with developing replacement plans. Understanding the new reality of asset management requires changing old programs to new ones that manage both costs and delivery times. This session will discuss several ways to understand the way assets are now managed in the fire service.

 

Mental Health

In Ontario, when an emergency responder (police officer, firefighter, paramedic etc.) is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) it is presumed to be occupational. Emergency responder mental health emergencies, PTSD and suicides are at a tragic all time high, leading to significant costs, absenteeism, suffering and death. There are programs that municipalities and fire departments can enact to support the mental health of firefighters, and this presentation will explore these programs; and what is being done nationally, provincially and locally to prevent firefighter PTSD and suicide. This will give Municipal Leaders insight and tools into how to support Fire Chiefs and firefighters to enact local programs to support the mental health and well-being of firefighters.

 

Shared Services

The presentation will be sharing the positive outcome of 3 fire departments coming together to share a Fire Management Team but maintain their own identities. We will review all of the positive outcomes as well as the lesson learnt from the entire experience including dealing with 3 separate Councils. The new model will be offered as an alternative to the traditional structure that most volunteer/paid on call fire departments currently operate under.

 

Mandatory Certification

Effective July 1, 2026, all firefighters in Ontario must be certified to meet the requirements of Ontario Regulation 343/22 Firefighter Certification. This session will provide information on what that means for your municipality. 

 

Establishing and Regulating By-law/Level of Service to Provide Panel

Establishing and regulating by-laws outline the responsibilities, structure, and operation of the fire service to ensure its efficiency and alignment with local needs. This panel will provide insight and experiences regarding this topic.