St. Albert Fire Services is on a mission to staff up and appears to be spoiled for choice.
More than 50 people attended a pair of open houses for potential recruits, the most recent held at Fire Hall No. 3 on Giroux Road last Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Fire Chief Evan Cooke said the service is “very fortunate” to have such a field of candidates. He believes the good work of firefighters in St. Albert has created a desirable profile in the community, and there is “evolving interest” in a firefighting career for younger people.
"I think there's more of a spotlight on the fire service and the benefit of a career in this profession,” he said.
Speaking to a smaller group of eight candidates in a breakout session, acting lieutenant Greg O'Neil said he likes the fact the ambulances (firefighters in St. Albert are paramedics, also) are taller than Alberta Health Services (AHS) vehicles, so he can stand up in the back.
Another attractive factor for him is the internal committees of firefighters that give them say in some decisions, such as the recruitment process.
“We’re one of the only departments with internal shift committees and rotations,” he said.
The department intends to hire six new firefighters to fill existing vacancies. Currently, St. Albert employs 132 operational staff and 14 administrative positions, including the chief and two admin assistants.
The candidates were asked to submit an application at the end of the open house. The competition for the new positions will close in the first week of September. Select applicants will then be put through a battery of tests, including physical fitness testing at the University of Alberta.
Then, there will be a gauntlet of challenges for them to tackle during a station assessment day in St. Albert.
“This is to ensure that, one, they’re capable of doing the job, and two, to make sure they want to do this job. Job offers are anticipated to go early in the new year with this class starting the first of April.”
So what makes a career in the fire service so appealing?
“Number one is you get the opportunity to help your community,” Cooke said. “What we're seeing now is a lot of folks coming back to St. Albert, to work and serve the community they live in.”
There’s also the charity involvement with campaigns for muscular dystrophy in February-March and breast cancer in October.
“In addition to that, it's a career like no other. You get to help people when they're at their time in need.”
No officer vacancies
While the fire department works to fill out its complement of regular firefighters, the executive tier is staffed up. Almost exactly a year ago, the Gazette reported the department was looking to fill two deputy chief positions: operations, which had been vacant since July 2022, and planning and logistics, vacant since March of 2023.
“With respect to chief officers, we are fully staffed” with five, Cooke said. “We currently have myself as the fire chief and we have a deputy chief of operations, who is supported by an assistant chief of operations, and we have a deputy chief of planning and logistics who's supported by an assistant chief.
“We are again fully staffed, with deputy chief Gord Buhr being the latest member to join our team about four months ago after a 30-year career with the City of Winnipeg.
“So no, no concerns with respect to our staffing levels of our administration staff, we are fully staffed and we're moving forward.”
