‘We will make due’: Surrey fire chief insists hiring freeze won’t affect public safety

Surrey’s fire chief says council’s decision not to hire new firefighters won’t jeopardize public safety as many critics claim.

Surrey's fire chief says council's decision not to hire new firefighters won't jeopardize public safety as many critics claim.

Larry Thomas expects the Surrey Fire Department will see an increased workload as a result, but says he's confident his team can handle it.

“We will make due,” Thomas said.

“We're willing to delay our request so that council can meet its priorities for this year.”

On Monday night, council approved a five-year financial plan that does not grant the fire department's request for eight new firefighters or the RCMP's call for 12 new officers.

Mayor Doug McCallum says the budget makes good on three of his key promises — keeping taxes low, delivering a fiscally responsible budget and scrapping the Surrey RCMP.

His critics, however, question whether McCallum is leaving first responders understaffed to cover the $130 million it will cost over the next five years to replace the RCMP with a municipal police force.

Surrey's police chief, the Surrey Firefighters Association, Fleetwood-Port Kells MP Ken Hardie and the Surrey Board of Trade have all spoken out publicly against council's decision.

Mayor Doug McCallum insists Surrey's fire and police departments both have the resources they need.

“Both of them assured me we could get by this year and continue to make our city safe with the same number of officers [and firefighters] we have now,” he said.

Calls for an investigation

Surrey Board of Trade CEO Anita Huberman is so frustrated with the hiring freeze that she's calling on the province to investigate whether the city has adequate policing.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says he's aware of Huberman's concerns but he hasn't spoken with her.

Farnworth says the Police Force Transition Team — which is overseeing Surrey RCMP's transition to a new city force — and which is headed up by former B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal, will ensure the city has enough police officers.

“They're looking at that transition and staffing,” he said.

“Staffing levels are obviously something they'll be paying very close attention to.”

 But Assistant Commisioner Dwayne McDonald, the officer in charge of the Surrey RCMP, says the hiring freeze means he won't have enough officers to do frontline police work.

He says calls for service are up by about three per cent this year, so he'll likely have to pull resources away from crime prevention programs to fill the gap.

“In 2018, Surrey's violent crime severity index reached a 10-year low,” McDonald said in a statement.

“However, we are seeing some minor increases in crime this year and, in the long term, we cannot expect to see crime go down in a growing city without relative increases to police resources.”

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‘Seconds matter'

Surrey Firefighters Association President Mark Mcrae was given five minutes to speak when he addressed the city's finance committee at Monday's public hearing.

He spent 30 seconds standing in silence to illustrate what the hiring freeze could mean for response times.

“Seconds matter,” he said.

“It is important to share that, because as we move forward with this budget the way it is currently drafted, the time it takes for fire to respond will be negatively impacted.”

McRae says Surrey has 364 firefighters — less than half of Vancouver's total — which is inadequate for one of the ten largest cities in Canada.

“We can't ignore the impact that telling our frontline first responders to do more with less will have,” he said.

“It is naive to think that the mental health and wellness of our members is not going to be negatively impacted when you are continually increasing the demands placed with no additional resources.”

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