Fire Fighting in Canada: The Podcast

Laura King with NFPA Canada shares details of this year’s NFPA fire prevention theme: Serve up Fire Safety in the Kitchen. King talks about the core messages and timeliness of the campaign, alongside the resources that are available now to start building your fire prevention week campaigns. Fire prevention week started in 19245 in Canada and remains a critical public education tool.

Phil Bott, division chief for the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) and the Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute (FESTI), talks about changes in education, feedback from students, the ongoing need for recruits and the growing importance of technology.

We’re getting to know Joe Zatylny, the new fire chief in Edmonton, and his vision for the department in Fire Fighting in Canada’s latest podcast. Zatylny shares his background and what it was like becoming fire chief of a large urban department during the pandemic with host Tom DeSorcy, the fire chief in Hope, B.C. Zatylny discusses mental health, diversity, inclusion and being a modern municipal...

Shanyn Silinski, program manager for Search and Rescue for Autism (SARA), talks with host and Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy about understanding autism and the vulnerabilities in this population so first responders can be better equipped during response, search and rescue. The SARA project offers training to actual scenarios that break down misconceptions, educate on wandering and bolting and discuss sens...

Red Deer Chief of Emergency Service Ken McMullen earned the 2020 Career Fire Chief of the Year at the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and the Fire Underwriters Survey of Canada Fire Rescue Canada’s 2020 Celebration of Excellence. Chief McMullen was recognized for his efforts in the field of fire education throughout Alberta and his work to reduce the stigma associated with mental health advoca...

Randy Schroeder, fire chief of the Town of Mayerthorpe Fire Department in Alberta, earned the 2020 Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year at the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and the Fire Underwriters Survey of Canada Fire Rescue Canada’s 2020 Celebration of Excellence. Chief Schroeder, who also serves as President of the Alberta Fire Chiefs Association and as fire chief for Lac Ste. Anne County o...

Adam Grant, the new fire chief for Markham Fire and Emergency Services, talks about serving the most diverse community in Ontario, the challenges for leadership in 2021 and what shifts in approach are here to stay and Canada moves through COVID-19 and beyond.

Karen Fry has spent over 20 years in the fire service as a firefighter, deputy chief, fire chief in Nanaimo and now the new chief for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services. She is also the 1st vice president for the Fire Chiefs’ Association of British Columbia and a recent recipient of Fire Services Exemplary Service Medal. Fry shares the story of her career, the changing nature of women in the fire serv...

The fire service is on a seemingly never-ending call. How are the volunteers doing? How will volunteer departments emerge and help heal their communities? Chris Harrow, director of fire services for the Town of Minto and Township of Wellington North in Ontario, talks about these questions and more, including recruitment, retention, and the strain of missing social connections in the volunteer fire...

Host and Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy talks to Sean Tracey, the chair of Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition Canada. Tracey is the former and first Canadian regional manager for the NFPA and was the deputy chief for Ottawa Fire Services before his retirement in 2019. Tracey is now championing the case for home fire sprinklers in Canada, and he shares the challenges to home fire sprinkler adoption, the perspec...

When it comes to comparing wildfires from the past and right now, what changed? Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy and Penticton Fire Chief Larry Watkinson share their unique past experiences of the ‘crazy world’ of wildfires, as well as how wildfire services have significantly evolved over time.

Tim Wilkinson, fire chief for Richmond, B.C., shares how Richmond Fire-Rescue went from mired in public controversy to actively engaging diversity and creating a welcoming workplace for all. Wilkinson talks with Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy about how the Richmond department managed gender, inclusiveness and privacy inside the firehall alongside serving and recruiting in an extraordinarily diverse commun...

Len Garis, director of research for the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council project, shares how the NIFSC is helping fire safety for First Nations. Garis talks with Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy about the problem of insufficient data on First Nations communities and the mission to develop better research and services for Indigenous people.

Mark MacDonald, the fire chief for the Township of Cramahe and president of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, talks with Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy about the challenges faced by associations during the pandemic and the ones faced by fire chiefs that they are addressing alongside recruitment, retention and record retirements in the fire service, the beneficial role of technology and anticipating...

Jennifer Grigg, whose career in the fire service spans 30 years and has expanded to include being a certified body language coach, joins host Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy for a conversation on developing soft skills through the study of body language, which Grigg used to overcome anxiety. Grigg and DeSorcy talk about body language awareness in interviews, developing follow up questions based on body lan...

Laura King, the NFPA’s public education representative for Canada, joins host Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy for a conversation about this year’s Fire Prevention Week. Running Oct. 3-9, this year’s Fire Prevention Week is called Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety and focuses on teaching the public about what the sounds made by smoke and carbon monoxide alarms means. King and DeSorcy talk about the importance...

This month’s edition of Fire Fighting in Canada: The Podcast features the winners of this year’s Fire Chief of the Year awards presented by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and Fire Underwriter's Survey. The two winners, Career fire chief Bill Boyes and volunteer Fire Chief Arnold Lazare, joined host Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy for a conversation about the future of firefighting. DeSorcy capture...