The Huntsville / Lake of Bays Fire Department has been looking at ways to create a regional training centre on their property in Port Sydney for a number of years. With the unexpected announcement of the closure of the Ontario Fire College in Gravenhurst, those plans have been expedited.
“It’s pushed us more toward developing our own training ground, which we had already started doing,” said Fire Chief Rob Collins. “Having the college close down just means it makes more sense for us to go further with that project. It’s not going to be cheap but it’s something we’re going to have to do to get people to the level of training they need. We are pursuing the opportunity to become a regional training centre, which we had considered before the college closed down and this has convinced us to go ahead and try to get that designation.”
With the college closing, municipalities across the province will need a substantial amount of money for training.
“It’s going to add a lot of cost to us and a lot of smaller departments because the college was so heavily subsidized that it made it affordable for small communities to be able to get some really good training and everybody’s going to miss that part,” said Collins. “We were paying $65 to send someone to a course and the province was spending $1,300 per student on average for those courses. So that money needs to be made up by somebody and it looks like it’s going to be the municipality.”
Collins said while the college was once a great resource, the department had been moving away from using the campus for training.
“The college was not the most efficient. They could only do about 2,500 students a year at the campus, which is pretty small compared to the demand and that’s why we weren’t using it as much,” he said. “It was harder and harder to get people registered into courses. We had been moving away from attending the campus but they did have a good program for online learning and we’re not sure whether that will continue as well as it was.”
Collins said the department has submitted an application to become a regional training centre. Part of the requirement is that the department would have proper facilities to make courses available to other departments.
“We don’t have to be able to deliver everything the college offers, as long as we have some courses we can make available then we can become a regional training centre,” he said. “At this point we don’t know what kind of support we’re going to get from the government on that. It may be that they subsidize it. The money they used to spend on the fire college they’re not spending any more. We’re hoping they make that available as a subsidy for departments across the province.”
The Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General announced in January that the Ontario Fire College in Gravenhurst would be closed permanently (Save the Ontario Fire College / Facebook)
Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario and Matt Richter, Green Party candidate for Parry Sound Muskoka, released a statement on Feb. 9 on the fire college closure.
“The Ontario Fire College plays a crucial role in training the province’s firefighters and keeping our homes and neighbourhoods safe,” read the release. “The pandemic has left municipalities in financial turmoil. The last thing they need right now is more downloading. Greens are calling on the government to step up, do their job, and reverse the decision to close the Ontario Fire College.”
Chief Collins said this type of pressure is necessary but he doesn’t think the college will reopen.
“I think it’s pretty much a done deal. I’m not confident they will convince them to reopen it again,” he said. “I’m hoping that kind of pressure will convince the province to continue to fund subsidized training for municipalities in the province to be able to do training but I’m not confident we will see the college open again. The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs is quite involved and they’re trying to make sure the government makes funding available, that they don’t just make this a big cost-cutting endeavour for the provincial government and download everything on to the municipalities. The OAFC is pressuring the province to make sure they continue to support fire training.”
If the department’s application for a regional training centre is approved, the chief said they’re in a good position to move quickly.
“If they approved us right away we would be able to offer a certain number of courses with the facilities we already have,” he said. “We have plans in the works that we’re adding facilities all the time. We could hit the ground running and I think that will help us in our application that there are courses we could start right away.”
The department does a number of courses in-house already including the National Fire Protection Association’s firefighter level 1 and level 2, apparatus operator, and fire instructor.
“We have the huge advantage of having a live fire facility, which almost no one has,” said the chief. “For us, it’s not as drastic a problem but very few departments have access to those kinds of facilities. We have been working with the other fire departments in the District of Muskoka and that’s one of the reasons we felt it was worth pursuing a regional training centre. If we can help our neighbouring communities with their training needs it’s worthwhile for us to go ahead with the regional training centre.”
The training grounds in Port Sydney currently house station 3, a training building used to learn survival skills, space for auto extrication and roof venting training, and a live fire training structure. But with 11 acres, there’s room to grow.
The Office of the Fire Marshall will be hosting a Zoom meeting next week regarding the college closing. The chief is hoping to receive more answers then.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!
Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox three times per week!
Click here to support local news
Look at the location of the Fire College in Gravenhurst and remember it is, at least in theory, a PROVINCE WIDE training centre. It offers very reasonable cost training and accommodation included for attendees from further away.
Then look at the physical plant that is on location and I’m told in pretty good condition. You have to wonder at just closing it being a good idea at all.
The work being done in Port Sydney is good and has a place in the overall training scheme but the Fire College attracted people from all over and the synergy created by this common bond as the attendees returned to their fire stations all over the Province has a value too.
It seems a short sighted move to close the Fire College as it is unlikely that private industry efforts will be able to provide an equivalent replacement at anywhere near the cost.
No matter what, firefighters have to be trained and we shall all pay the cost one way or another in the long run.
Losing the OFC is a big blow to the province! This training location in Port Sydney was started years back by the HLOBFD under the direction of chief Hernen and his fine officers! From what i understand Departments from the district come here and train. What a great idea for the community and the front line fire fighters we have here in the district! Points i would like to make is, let’s approach the Insurance companies of the province to pony up some finances. In days gone by and I believe it is still the same, when we are fighting a fire we are working for the owner but the insurance company calls the shots! So the call goes out, lets see how many insurance companies help our community in this financial support of a much needed resource! Thank you to our front line fire fighters and all the hours they put in behind the scene to stay up with training! They are our unsung heroes of the community, that you hear little of till you hear and see them responding with lites and siren! Safe day to all first responders!