Ottawa-Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs states that it is time for Ottawa to study and take action for the National Forest Fire Coordination Agency for Ottawa.
The president of the organization wants the federal government to take inspiration from the US Fire Administration to establish a similar office in Canada.
The US office is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA, but Kane McMulan says that a Canadian version can be simple and less expensive.
He said that the proposed fire administration office, which can be kept as employees by one or two people, will ensure that personnel and equipment across the country are properly spread in the event of wildfire.
Relevant policies are being discussed, it will allow security and fire services to be placed on one seat on the table.
The Canadian government has been studying the possibility of creating a national disaster response or coordination agency since the record-breaking forest fire season in summer 2023, and McMulan said it is time to make decisions.
This year can also go down in history as one of the worst in case of fire.
“We will call it that we want to call it,” McMulan said about the proposed office. “We just need to start it.”
He said that the information required to create an agency is already.
“We just have to move forward and decide,” McMulan said, which is also a fire chief in red deer, Alta.
McMulan said that firefighters may involve helping to help develop various fields of policy, and cite Ottawa’s housing initiatives as an example.
“We hear such things,” we need to build more, we need to build faster, and we need to make it cheaper, “he said. “Fire Chief, what we do not hear, we need to make it safely.”
He believes that the April federal election and the arrival of a new Prime Minister has caused the delay.
The ACCP has not yet been found with the new Emergency Management Minister Ellenor Olsjevsky, but is in contact with his office.
The Public Safety Department told Canadian Press that Olszevsky “would work closely with his cabinet colleagues to detect options to improve coordination and response capacity at the federal level and to detect advance options.”
In the last two years, Ottawa has studied various models that are present worldwide and have met emergency management experts, the department said.
“These preliminary discussions have shown that any solution should reflect the realities of the Canadian Union, including the emergency management, including the leadership of the provinces, regions, local communities and indigenous governments,” the statement.
“The work to date is helping to shape the approach being developed by the present government.”
Under the administration of Justin Trudeau, McMulan had opportunities to talk with the former Prime Minister and his team members, but he noticed that “it did not happen overnight.”
“It takes a long time to build relationships,” he said.
He said that his group was “extremely optimistic” about Trudeau’s will to agree to the ACCP’s request to create a national fire office, but the Prime Minister’s resignation, Parliament prejudice, and a new government election held the project, he said.
McMulan hopes that the issue will pursue this decline when the Parliament resumes.
