Over 230 volunteer firefighters from across northwestern Ontario have gathered in Thunder Bay for an annual education conference; and this year it's delivering training that responds to new government regulations.
FireCon is an opportunity for new recruits, and seasoned firefighters alike to brush up their skills on everything from use of breathing apparatus, to extracting people from crashed vehicles, to public education, said Warren Brinkman, president of Emergency North Training, the organization that delivers FireCon.
"It's all, or mostly, hands-on training," he said.
The conference is also adapting in response to new provincial regulations, mandating that all firefighters, including volunteers, complete certain training certification courses.
While FireCon has always delivered training that meets standards set out by the National Fire Protection Association, this year, it's going one step further by providing programs that also result in that official certification, Brinkman said.
"So the program from 2018 has shifted ... of the programs that we have at FireCon ... we've, for the most part, made them so that they're certification programs. So that actually when you leave FireCon, you will have the certification piece behind you."
The cost of having volunteer firefighters certified has been a cause of concern for some volunteer fire departments.
That burden is a legitimate concern for small fire brigades with limited resources, said Brinkman, who is also the chief of the Longbow Lake Fire Brigade near Kenora, Ont.
However, he does believe that the higher certification standards will have a positive impact.
"The actual piece that's gonna keep you safe on the fire ground and keep firefighters from being injured and killed, is this standardized training," he said.
FireCon offers a relatively inexpensive opportunity to get the certificates, without having to travel to southern Ontario for courses, he added.
FireCon kicked off in Thunder Bay on Thursday Sept. 6 and will wrap-up on Saturday.
Link to original article in CBC.ca: FireCon draws hundreds of volunteer firefighters to Thunder Bay