Fewer firefighters mean slower response times, jeopardizing lives
In the end, all Brandon Armstrong could salvage was his mother’s wedding dress … and her Bible.
Choking back tears, the Sebright, Ont. man describes the fire that gutted his four-bedroom home and ended the lives of two people inside, including his disabled mother.
“The hallway … was engulfed in flames. I ran past my mother. Even in my nightmares, I see her feet as I run by them,” he told W5. Brandon shared details of the tragedy as part of our investigation into delayed response times caused by a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters.
Unless you live in a major city, chances are your fire department relies on volunteers. In fact, an astounding 83 per cent of firefighters in Canada are not career firefighters but part-time volunteers who are often also juggling full-time jobs and families.
They are on-call 24 hours a day and have committed to hundreds of hours of unpaid training. From coast to coast, the situation is the same: older volunteers are leaving and not enough new recruits are joining, putting some communities -- and the firefighters themselves -- at risk.
Sebright is in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario, an area where the volunteer firefighter shortage has been deemed a “significant risk to public and firefighter safety” by an independent consultant who analyzes emergency services.
Todd MacDonald, with Performance Concepts Consulting, says an international standard response time for a rural volunteer fire department is 14 minutes.
However, W5’s investigation discovered that one out of every four fires in Kawartha Lakes has a response time greater than 20 minutes, including some times of 28, 29, and, in one case, 41 minutes.
Brandon Armstong’s home is about 10 minutes from a fire hall. Yet it took 25 minutes for four firefighters -- the minimum number needed to safely enter a burning building -- to get to the scene. Brandon’s 65-year-old mother and a 22-year-old family friend could not be saved.
“If they had gotten water on the house in a decent time, I think they could have been saved. And I know it's not the volunteers' fault. I know it's not,” Brandon told W5.
Brandon Armstrong (CTV W5)
Unlike police and ambulance services, fire departments across the country are fully funded by property taxes. It is up to individual municipalities to decide how much to invest in fire services. The independent report on Kawartha Lakes suggests an additional 71 volunteers are needed just to meet minimum guidelines.
“Kawartha Lakes is the canary in the coal mine. The story is not identical, but similar in many communities across the country. We are playing a game of Russian roulette with our service levels,” MacDonald told W5.
In light of his independent report, Kawartha Lakes has now committed to recruiting an additional 60 volunteer firefighters by the end of 2022.
Brandon Armstrong has only returned once to the burned-out skeleton of his home. It was then that he discovered his mother’s Bible and wedding dress, buried in the ashes and rubble of what had been their home for the past three decades.
“I would have rather lost my own life. But my mom did get her wish. She always said she wanted to die in that house. I just wish it was in a different way.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Two killed after collision with truck on Hwy. 417 near Limoges, Ont.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
Houston braces for flooding to worsen in wake of storms
High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing hundreds of people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water.
Canadian doctor concerned new weight-loss drug Wegovy may be used inappropriately
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
What a U.S. farmworker’s case of bird flu tells us about tracking the infection
A U.S. farmworker who caught bird flu after working with dairy cattle in Texas appears to be the first known case of mammal-to-human transmission of the virus, a new study shows.
‘We made them safer and more fun’: Here’s what’s new about e-scooters
Electric scooters (e-scooters) have been gaining popularity in the capital and this season comes with some changes and updates.
Hulk Hogan, hurricanes and a blockbuster recording: A week in review of the Trump hush money trial
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Canadian Auger-Aliassime reaches first Masters final in Madrid with another walkover
Montreal's Felix Auger-Aliassime has advanced to his first ATP Masters final, and he hasn't had to play all that much tennis to do it.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.