fire watch (summer 2008)

VOLUME 4 | ISSUE 2 | SUMMER 2008

FIREHALL SHOWCASE: Fire Station 224

Publications Agreement No: 41203011

And the Award Goes To...

Who Helps Children Who Set Fires?

Local 3888 hosts annual Media Awards

A look at the TAPP-C Program

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3SUMMER 2008 | F IRE WATCH

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52

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5 President’s Message

9 Secretary Treasurer’s Message

11 Vice President’s Message

13 Chaplain’s Corner

14 Letters to the Editor

16 Who Helps Children Who Set Fires?

18 Member Profi le on Bruce Campbell

20 2008 Off-Duty Awards

22 Etobicoke Fire Fighters’ Association and Department History

28 2008 Media Awards

30 Fire Fighter Survival & Rescue

32 Firehall Showcase–Station 224

36 Ceremonial and Bereavement Committee

41 Collective Agreement–Modifi ed Work Policy

42 We All Need to Contribute to the 3888 FIREPAC

49 Two Hatters and Secondary Employment

52 Send Off to Local 3888 Retirees

54 3888 Recent Happenings

57 Fit to Survive

59 Never Shall We Forget/Rest in Peace

61 Harassment or Personal (Non-code) Harassment?

62 Ad Index

V O L U M E 4 | I S S U E 2 | S U M M E R 2 0 0 8

IN THIS ISSUE

FIRE WATCH (ISSN 1715-5134) is published quarterly by the TORONTO PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS’ ASSOCIATION39 Commissioners Street, Toronto, ON Canada M5A 1A6 Tel: 416.466.1167www.torontofi refi ghters.orgE-mail: fi rewatch@torontofi refi ghters.org

FIRE WATCH is published quarterly by Xentel DM Incorporated on behalf of the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association

CHIEF EDITOR Scott Marks

MANAGING EDITORS Frank Ramagnano & James CoonesTel.: 416.466.1167 Fax: 416.466.6632E-mail: fi rewatch@torontofi refi ghters.org

ASSISTANT EDITORS Rayanne Dubkov, Marla Friebe, Rodney Johnston, Seonaid Lennox, Neil McKinnon

ASSISTANT COPY EDITORS Alyssa Petrillo & Marcel Ramagnano

DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION Xentel DM Incorporated

FIRE WATCH PHOTOGRAPHER Keith Hamilton

CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL Agreement No: 41203011

PRINTED IN CANADA Copyright © 2008 Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association

ADVERTISING Latoya Davis, Project ManagerTel: 416.646.3128 Ext. 104 Fax: 416.646.3135 Email: [email protected]

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise without prior written permission from the publisher. FIRE WATCH is an offi cial communication tool of the Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association. The Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association (TPFFA) does not assume responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by any contributor. Comments made by individuals may not refl ect the offi cial position of the TPFFA. Acceptance and publication of articles, advertisements, products and services does not indicate endorsement of same by the TPFFA, and the TPFFA assumes no responsibility for their accuracy.

Merchant Card Acceptance

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THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE TORONTO PROFESSIONAL FIRE FIGHTERS’ ASSOCIATION

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On The Cover

Photo by John Riddell

Local 3888’s 2008 Media Awards Best Photograph in a publication with a circulation of less than 100,000.Story on page 28.

5SUMMER 2008 | FIRE WATCH

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEe all know what hindsight is; the ability to review a situation after the fact and determine how things could have been done differently to avoid mistakes or improve what was done. We all do it; either formally through debriefing, or informally, mulling something over in

our heads. Hindsight can bring the smug satisfaction of having your point of view validated, or the grief of sleepless nights wishing you had an opportunity to do it all over again. But do we understand the true value of hindsight?

WHindsight serves us well in the fire service. At a major incident it gets called de-briefing, but the intent is the same; an opportunity to review the facts on what took place for the purpose of iden-tifying things that could be improved at the next incident.

The value of hindsight is its ability to teach us ways to minimize future errors and to maximize ways to do our jobs properly. Hindsight is part of the planning process for the next occurrence.

Fire fighters have to develop the skill of critical thinking and hindsight is an integral part. At an emergency scene there is often little time to stop and con-template. Instead, we rely on our train-ing, experience and planning to make the right decisions to get things done safely. If we lack the training, planning, or are not properly prepared, the chance of something going wrong increases.

There is a direct application of hind-sight in the business world and all of the particulars that flow from a busi-ness relationship. As fire fighters, we are not exempt from this type of rela-tionship. It affects each one of you through your contractual relationship with the city and it affects your associa-tion in both the day-to-day business of running the association and the associ-ation’s negotiations and relationship with the city.

Scott Marks

[ ]THE VALUE OF HINDSIGHT IS ITS ABILITY TO TEACH US WAYS TO MINIMIZE FUTURE ERRORS AND TO MAXIMIZE WAYS TO DO OUR JOBS PROPERLY. HINDSIGHT IS PART OF THE PLANNING PROCESS FOR THE NEXT OCCURRENCE.

The association has to develop the same type of critical thinking to con-stantly assess what we are doing. We run a business. It is a service oriented business that provides services to you as fire fighters. We have to ensure that we are providing what you need in a cost efficient manner and also be assessing your future needs so that these items are there when you need them. We have to assess what we have done in the past,

what we have that works, how we achieved it and how to get you what you need in the future.

A prime example of this is the joint Benefits Utilization Committee that has been struck to look at what we have in benefits, their related costs and how those benefits serve us. If there are ways to improve benefits by re-formulating and applying more money where it is needed and less elsewhere, it will serve our members better and be cost neutral. That is the goal of this committee.

Our membership gets the opportunity to assess the Executive Board every two years at election time. As anyone running for re-election to a union executive board can tell you, members

have the ability to use hindsight effectively by reciting and reflecting on any errors you may have made in the previous two years, or at least mistakes they believe you have made.

As we get ready for this reassessment via our elections in the fall, it is a time to apply a little hindsight in evaluating the critical thinking that has gone into running this association over the past two years. We have the luxury of being

half way through a three year contract. We can look back at what was negotiat-ed and how it has stood up through this period of time. We can also look ahead to the final year of the contract and ask, “If this contract was negotiated today would the situation be better or worse?”

Many fire locals are locked in arbitra-tions that have lasted for years. Ottawa, Pickering and London amongst others have just received or are awaiting awards. Some date back three to four years. This is not the fault of the locals, it is the problem with the current arbi-tration system. Whereas we believed our Teplitsky arbitration was delayed due to the number of issues because of amalgamation, we now realize that

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delays have become commonplace and this is the new norm. Arbitration is not the preferred method of resolving con-tracts today.

We can see the difficulties the TTC and the Toronto Police are currently ex-periencing at the bargaining table and we start to get a picture of where we might be had we not settled or ratified our contract last year.

Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back now, it seems that the issues that some had about the last contract pale in com-parison to the situation we would be in had we not ratified it. The Bargaining Committee unanimously recommended ratification as did the majority of the Executive Board. That sentiment was based on looking ahead and the plan-

ning that had gone into negotiating the contract. The ability to look ahead and plan was based in a large part on criti-cally analysing what had transpired in the past; hindsight. There is always an element of luck in settling at the right time, but the more you plan, the more you minimize the unknown variables.

Hindsight is a part of critical thinking that is extremely useful when we use it to review our past and plot our future. If we use it to point fingers and lay blame we have missed the point and we are destined to repeat our mistakes.

P.S. It was enormously satisfying to have our complaint against the Toronto Sun and Sue-Ann Levy upheld by the Ontario Press Council. The column writ-ten by Ms. Levy on October 25, 2007,

Scott MarksPresident, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Association, I.A.F.F. Local 3888

President’s Message ... Continued from page 5

describing our last negotiations as “secret” was false and the OPC upheld the complaint. Ms. Levy did not apply due diligence and simply missed our contract when it was ratified by council in June 2007. It was on the public agen-da and in emails to me she admitted she had been too busy to read the agenda. She tried to lay the blame elsewhere and we called her on it. It is a small but enormously satisfying victory for Toron-to’s fire fighters.

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SECRETARY TREASURER’S MESSAGEecently, a member sent me an e-mail in regards to the 2007 Ontario Budget and the 2008 Federal Budget. The member was asking about new governments’ flexibility for Locked-in Pensions and how it affects fire fighters. I thought it was a

very good question and the answer should be shared with the membership as a whole.

Here is what was contained in the On-tario Budget 2007; the government is introducing a new life income fund (LIF). The new LIF, and other modifica-tions to the rules governing locked-in accounts, would give seniors who hold locked-in retirement savings transferred from employment pension plan, in-creased flexibility in managing their re-tirement income. The new LIF would replace all existing LIFs and locked-in retirement income funds (LRIFs). This would eliminate mandatory annuity pur-chase requirements and introducing: • The right to an optional one-time un-locking of up to 25 per cent of locked-in funds no earlier than the early-retire-ment date under the pension plan from which the money was transferred.• An amended annual payment sched-ule that would increase retirement in-come and permit withdrawal of the en-tire remaining account balance when the LIF holder reaches age 90.• The opportunity to withdraw addition-al income based on investment returns in the previous year.

Additional changes would allow di-rect transfers of unlocked small amounts to non-locked-in accounts and unlock-ing for non-residents of Canada. The changes would also introduce consistent rules for the waiver of spousal entitle-ments to locked-in funds.

The Federal 2008 Budget; LIFs hold investments stemming from federally regulated registered pension plans. LIFs provide seniors with the ability to with-draw these investments, but withdraw-

Frank Ramagnano

als are currently subject to strict annual withdrawal limits. Budget 2008 proposes to significantly enhance the flexibility to withdraw funds from LIFs through three provisions: Individuals 55 or older with small holdings of up to $22,450 will be able to wind up their accounts with the option to convert to a tax-deferred sav-ings vehicle. The threshold for small holdings will increase with the average industrial wage, Individuals 55 or older will be entitled to a one-time conversion of up to 50 per cent of LIF holdings into a tax-deferred savings vehicle with no maximum withdrawal limits, All individu-als facing financial hardship (e.g. low in-come, high disability or medical-related costs) will be entitled to unlock up to $22,450. This maximum will also in-crease with the average industrial wage.

So you must be thinking “Okay, flex-ibly is good but what is the catch?” If you recall, I laid out exactly what were your options in regards to your money that is invested with OMERS in the (Fall 2007 issue of Fire Watch Pages 38 to 41 and still available on our web site). The changes affect all members of reg-istered pension plans in Ontario, so yes; they apply to members of OMERS as well. The Regulation under the Pension Benefits Act was amended to permit owners of Life Income Funds (LIFs) a time-limited opportunity to withdraw up to 25% of the amount transferred into the LIF. The individual has 60 days from the date the money was trans-ferred to the new LIF to apply to with-draw the money in question. In terms

of the impact specifically on members of the OMERS plan, there really isn’t any impact on OMERS. Remember, when a member terminates and is less than age 50, they can withdraw the Commuted Vale of their pension from OMERS and transfer the CV to a locked-in savings account (like a LIRA) (Option #6 of the article). Once the individual is old enough to start to draw an annu-ity, they then transfer the money in their LIRA to a LIF and the LIF will start to pay them an annuity. It’s at this point in time in which the individual can take advantage of withdrawing the 25% of the monies transferred to the LIF.

An active member of OMERS can’t utilize this unlocking opportunity (nor can active members of any other regis-tered pension plans). A member who has terminated and has left their pen-sion with OMERS (a deferred member) also can’t utilize this opportunity. Also, remember in OMERS, once you are over age 50 you no longer have the op-tion to transfer your pension out of OMERS—you must either defer your pension or commence an immediate pension upon termination. In any case, a LIF is something separate and apart from the OMERS pension plan and OMERS wouldn’t play any role in the LIF. Anyone who is utilizing a LIF

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Frank Ramagnano Secretary - Treasurer, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ AssociationI.A.F.F. Local 3888

would not be a member of OMERS. They may be former members who transferred their monies out, but their ties with OMERS no longer exist. The LIF would be managed and administered by some fi nancial institution.

Knowing how fi re fi ghters think and the fact I discussed option #7 (Fall 2007) on Individual Pension Plans (IPP’s) I know your next question. An IPP, if it’s done as per the rules, is a registered pension plan (just like OMERS), so the same logic and rules should apply (ie, as long as the monies sit in the IPP the op-tion isn’t available). However, could an individual transfer their monies out of the IPP to a LIRA? It depends on the terms and conditions of the IPP. Remem-ber, the problems with an IPP. The IPP exists because of a bona fi de employ-ment relationship. The individual can’t simply withdraw the monies unless there has been an event that triggers it (ie, a termination of employment, a wind up of the plan). The person can’t set up the IPP simply for the purpose of getting

the money moved to a LIRA and LIF to unlock monies.

As you may be aware of I was recently named as the replacement representa-tive on behalf of the Ontario Profession-al Fire Fighters Association to sit on the OMERS Administration corporation. This appointment with take effect in the new year. The current representative Rick Miller was appointed to the OMERS Board of Directors on November 1, 1997. (On July 1, 2006 the new OMERS Act continued the Ontario Municipal Em-ployees Retirement Board as the OMERS Administration Corporation, responsible for pension services and administration, investments, and plan valuation.) Rick served as Chair of the OMERS Board in 2002 and a member of the Executive Committee from 2000 through 2003. He currently is the Vice Chair of the In-vestment Committee and a member of the Governance Committee. Rick is a Captain with the Windsor Fire and Res-cue Service. We all owe Rick a great deal of gratitude for the manner in which he

has represented Ontario Fire Fighters during his 10 year tenure, and how he continues to represent us. He has been able to accomplish much and will be leaving OMERS knowing that for the last three years the Fund has ranked in the top quartile of all Canadian pension funds. I am humbled to be named his replacement and I hope to continue down the path that he has created.

I have also updated our cost of retire-ment chart for 2008. It is a rough esti-mation, as I am not an accountant, but I did my best to try and make it as accu-rate as possible. I used the actual sala-ries paid and placed them in the OMERS formula to fi gure out the pension. To get a true refl ection of your true pension, you should contact OMERS. You were recently sent your personalized report and you should review it for accuracy.

Secretary Treasurer’s Message ... Continued from page 9

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VICE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

They are still on the drawing board and the Toronto Fire Services wants them to open in one year intervals from 2008 to 2011. The reasons given for being un-able to meet the KPMG guidelines range from the lack of suitable and available land in the areas concerned and Capital Budget pressures for other competing high priority City projects. Using cur-rent Capital Budget projections, they will be opened starting in 2012 and will not be completed until 2015.

These four new stations would be built throughout the City of Toronto and I have listed the proposed locations below:

1 Station 221—Midland and Eglin-ton. (This location was outlined on

an earlier Scarborough Master Fire Plan).

2 Station 124—Sunnybrook Hospital Area.

3 Station 144—Downsview—Keele between Wilson and Sheppard

4 Station 414—Northwest Etobicoke. West of Highway #27, and south of

Rexdale Blvd. (Woodbine Racetrack).

Both the Fire Underwriters and the NFPA agree that there should be one fire station for every 25,000 residents and that consideration for construction should begin when 40% of that total is reached. Adequate staffing and cover-age is not only a safety issue for the pub-lic but also the Fire Fighters we repre-

n 2007 KPMG, an independent research fi rm completed a Fire Master Plan for the City of Toronto Fire Services which built on a previous Fire Plan from the year 1999. In that year six stations were recommended, one was completed in

2002 (St. #212) and another opened in 2007 (St. #116). The fi nal four were to go into service from 2002 to 2005.

IEd Kennedy

New Fire Master Plan Calls for Four New Stations

sent. Local 3888 intends to lobby City Council, and work, as much as possible, in a co-operative manner with the To-ronto Fire Services administration, to not only ensure that these guidelines are met but also that a firm time frame is established for their implementation. What we are seeking is a real commit-ment from City Council and TFS admin-istration to get on with this project and set firm guidelines for its completion. Fire protection must also be considered for other developing areas of the City. These include York University, the ex-pected growth of the Toronto water-front, especially along the Eastern Ave-nue section, the downtown core as well as many other developing sections of the City.

In their study, KPMG not only ana-lyzed apparatus and company place-ment, they also recommended that re-sponse should comply with the NFPA 1710 guidelines to deliver a sufficient number of fire fighters to conduct all the necessary tasks in a safe manner. This means that the first responding truck should have a minimum of 4 fire fighters and arrive within four minutes. KPMG also notes that, in addition to re-sponse time guidelines, NFPA identifies that the minimum staffing for front line vehicles (pumpers and aerials) should be not less than four personnel. This is important and we certainly agree that sufficient staffing is a critical compo-nent of effective fire fighting.

In 2002, the Toronto Fire Services be-gan servicing its own fleet of vehicles

and shortly thereafter moved into a new mechanical facility. It is now obvious that the department has outgrown this garage and needs to look for new and larger quarters. In order to use extra space more efficiently and institute an effective preventative maintenance pro-gram, where smaller repairs can be done before they become larger ones, five more mechanics should be hired. This staff increase has been identified in the Toronto Fire Services operating budget request and will be a priority item in our upcoming lobbying efforts with the City.

Within the various levels of govern-ment in Canada, we are famous for setting up committees, parliamentary enquiries and judicial reviews which all issue reports and recommendations then gather dust on some shelf somewhere after a few days of media interest, never to be heard of again. The 2007 Fire Mas-ter Plan contains some extremely posi-tive ideas, many of which should be implemented as soon as possible. The Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ Asso-ciation intends to ensure that this report does stay on the front burner and that its many positive recommendations come to fruition in a timely manner.

Ed Kennedy Vice-President, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ AssociationI.A.F.F. Local 3888

Frank Ramagnano Secretary - Treasurer, Toronto Professional Fire Fighters’ AssociationI.A.F.F. Local 3888

12

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LOCAL 3888 REMINDS ALL OF ITS MEMBERS TO ALWAYS BUCKLE UP!

ALWAYS!

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BY DAVID KING, NORTH COMMAND CHAPLAIN

CHAPLAIN’S CORNER

Rev. G. David King

It was a mistake for at least two reasons (I suspect there are more, but the concussion has left me a little dazed and confused—just kidding!). The first reason that it was unwise has to do with me being a 46 year old, 200 + pound guy who now prefers reading to running. And the second reason relates to agility, or as I found out the hard way, the lack of it.

My family’s home sits atop a fairly steep hill. This location is great for young kids on bikes, go-carts, and skateboards. It isn’t quite so ideal for not-so-young folks who are pushing 50, who haven’t been on a skateboard for twenty-five years, who now have only a passing acquaintance with a gym, and are quite simply too foolish to admit that they’re way out of their league.

Notwithstanding those risks, I de-cided to test fate. Initially, the ride went well. But then, chaos ensued. After no more than 10 seconds, the skateboard began to wobble from one side to the other. To steady myself, I assumed the ‘cool guy on a surf board’ stance. With Beach Boys music reverberating in my head, I leaned forward, crouched ever-so-slightly, and thrust my arms out to the side—exactly like I was riding a wave in Waikiki.

And just like all waves, this one even-tually came crashing to shore, or to be more specific, into a chestnut tree. For-tunately a bruised ego was all I had to contend with! In an attempt to bolster

my somewhat deflated spirits, my son called out, “Hey, Dad, that was totally ‘sic’ (a contemporary term for excel-lent). Next time though, remember it’s all about balance.”

That comment brings to mind anoth-er occasion where I lost my footing.

It was 10 years ago. With a pretty solid background in stained glass de-sign and creation, I was approached by an entrepreneur, inviting me to go into business with him. The deal involved me crafting the pieces of art and him marketing them. In total, our efforts lasted a mere 6 months. After too many hours of labour, too little sleep, and too few interactions with our significant others, one day my partner turned to me and said, “I gotta tell you, I think we’re way out of sync with what’s really important here.” And, he was right!

Years later, I’ve come to appreciate that instance as central to my under-standing of what a well-lived life should be about. To quote my son again, “It’s all about balance.” I say that because at some time or another, each of us will find it necessary to wrestle with (and make choices among) conflicting desires or competing obligations. Our ability to make such wise and informed decisions can only happen as a by-prod-uct of living intentionally and thought-fully.

I name intentionality and thoughtful-ness as necessary components because, it seems to me, that without them you

and I are not so much participants in life as we are prisoners of life.

Now to be sure, while some decisions are relatively easy to make, others are the source of much angst and anxiety. Even though family, friends, and co-workers are frequent sources of support in difficult times, there may be other occasions where a more independent and objective resource is needed.

Helping another to see the big pic-ture, to make sense out of the confu-sion, is often what chaplains are called on to assist with. Indeed, my col-leagues—Barry Parker (South Com-mand), Hugh Donnelly (East Command), Todd Riley (West Command), and Ron Nickle (Chaplain Emeritus)— believe that chaplaincy is, in part, about mean-ing-making. That is, the act of assisting another to find clarity, commitment, and confidence in a decision that needs be made, a change that requires imple-mentation, or an action that will make a situation better, or at least bearable.

Chaplaincy Services is available to you 24/7. Consultations are easy to ar-range and are confidential.

Be assured, if you need us, we’ll be there.

And remember, in life, as with skate-boarding, it’s all about balance. I wish you a steady ride!

NORTH COMMANDRev. G. David King416.723.8375 [email protected]

y teenage son, Cameron, is an avid ‘sk8border’ and according to his friends, a pretty good one too. As it happens, I decided a week or so ago that it was time for me to ‘board up’ and show my lad that I could still keep up with him. Now, as much as it pains me to

admit this... that was a mistake!

M

Remember, it’s all about balance...

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T O T H E E D I T O RT O T H E E D I T O RLe e

TREASURED MEMORYI would like to express my many thanks for all the work you and the association did, to organize and host such a wonderful evening for all of us retirees! My wife and I had a great time, everything was perfect. I will treasure the memories and the many gifts that you lavished upon us, very thoughtful of you indeed.

It was good to see many people from the past, that I have known for so many many years, and exchange lots of old stories (some of which might have even been true!! Ha).

Thanks again for all your efforts, it certainly was a warm and enjoyable evening for us.

David and Joanne Baird

SINCERE APPRECIATIONI would like to express my sincere apprecia-tion to all those who are involved in a very special event hosted by TPFFA; namely the Retirees Dinner and Dance.

From the moment my wife Debbie and I arrived we were made to feel welcome and at ease, as were my son and his girlfriend.

Everywhere you turned there was someone asking how you were, directing the evening or pointing the way to the bar. Dinner was great, as was the music and conversation.

Most importantly of all, the feeling of brotherhood prevailed. The common bond we all share was never more evident than that night.

Local 3888 is to be commended for their efforts in making us all feel that we had con-tributed and sacrifi ced in our dedication to our job.

To all those who missed the night; I can only say this—you missed having a lot of people make you feel special!

Dennis Buck

HONOURING FIRE FIGHTERSMy daughters and I would like to thank you for the lovely evening honoring the fi refi ght-ers. The presentation and service was done with respect and honor. Oddly enough the family in front of us were my middle daugh-ters neighbors whose father had past away last year whom we didn’t know were attending.

The box and contents given to his wife was something they will have for years to come. Again thank you for the lovely evening makes me feel even prouder of myfather, Lester A Bangay.

June ParadisJune Paradis

BEAUTIFUL CEREMONYJust a short note to thank you once again for the beautiful, solemn ceremony which we attended last evening.

The ceremony, with all the fl ags, pipers, prayers, and pictures, brought tears to our eyes. It was very touching and I personally thank you for all the hard work which you put into it.

Once again, may I as well as the entire Greg Fecteau family thank you, much beyond what these mere few words can say.

Kaza


FIRE WATCH accepts Letters to the Editor, articles, essays, and photographs from Local 3888 Members, active and retired. We will also accept fi re related submissions from outside authors or photographers.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR MAY BE FORWARDED TO:Letter to the EditorFIRE WATCH39 Commissioners StreetToronto, OntarioCanadaM5A 1A6

LETTERS POLICYYou may email your letter to:fi rewatch@torontofi refi ghters.org

FIRE WATCH welcomes letters to the editor to give you – Local 3888 members – an opportunity to express your views, concerns, ideas, or gripes.

We can’t print every letter and in some instances letters will have to be edited due to space limitations.

We do not accept attachments. Please paste your letter into the body of your email and use the subject line “Letter to the Editor.”

ARTICLESBefore sending a full article submission, we suggest that you forward an outline or suggestion for an article to the Editor. FIRE WATCH is your magazine, and as such, we will accept articles on any subject related to Local 3888 and the fi re community. Subjects could include but are not limited to: health issues, history, sporting events, equipment, training issues, personal essays, etc.

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS/QUERIES MAY BE FORWARDED TO:ArticlesFIRE WATCH39 Commissioners StreetToronto, OntarioCanada M5A 1A6

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PHOTOGRAPHYPlease contact the Editors before forwarding your photographic work for consideration.

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Le e Ken Magill June 2008 2008-2220 Marine Dr. Oakville, ON L6L 5H1TEL. 905 847 6694

Greetings to my fi refi ghter friends and their families;

This year’s Rob Penney slo-pitch tournament for fi refi ghter’s cancer research will not take place due to diffi culty of procuring the usual facility on time. Dave Pineau and the other organizers have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort for many years and are extremely disappointed and frustrated with this year’s turn of events. They are also very weary and fatigued and in need of a year off to recharge their energy. The fund raising to keep the fi refi ghter cancer research on the fast track will go ahead as usual and more than 400 letters have been prepared and mailed out to both active and retired fi refi ghters.

Princess Margaret Hospital and the Ont. Professional Firefi ghters’ Assn., using the data that one in three Canadians will develop some form of cancer in their lifetime, estimate double that amount for fi refi ghters, which is a shocking 66% increase. It is only logical that we shouldn’t be believing that it can’t happen to me but rather if and at what stage in our life, we might possibly be the next cancer patient.

Firefi ghters are very fortunate that Princess Margaret Hospital has placed our profession in a special category and are committed to discover the reasons why we are in such a high risk group. This hospital has many fi rsts in cancer research. It has the largest radiation centre under one roof in the western world, one of the world’s largest bone marrow transplant facilities, discovered the stem cell and T-cell receptor, invented the cobalt machine and pioneered digital mammography. It also has one of the world’s highest percentage of cancer patients and has more than one thousand scientifi c staff on hand.

2008 is a special year at PMH as it is their 50th anniversary. To celebrate their accomplishments they have chosen the motto “In Our Lifetime”PMH reminds us that not long ago cancer was a death sentence and the treatment was dreaded almost as much as the disease. We have seen that change “In our lifetime.” PMH has told us that we won’t be fi ghting this fi ght forever. We are closing in. We have the momentum, talent and the passion. Together we are cancer’s warriors and we will fi nd more cures “In Our Lifetime”

Please make cheques out to Rob Penney Cancer Research or to P.M.H. Firefi ghter Cancer Research.

(We ask that you please seriously consider our appeal to keep this cancer research operating. What better cause can a fi refi ghter support than the one that will benefi t himself, his co-workers and his family?)

Princess Margaret Hospital will mail out receipts for income tax purposes for donations of $20 or more in time for the 2008 fi ling.

Thank you and best wishes, Ken Magill

1616

the annual income is less than $20,000, predominantly live outside the parental home, set fires on multiple occasions, set fires with matches or lighters, and are at increased risk for non-fire related offending. Juvenile firesetting is nor-mally indicative of broader, antisocial behaviour, and its presence in children normally conveys a 4-5 fold increase in risk for juvenile offending 10 years later. Fire involvement is described as any un-sanctioned or dangerous fire related be-haviour that is threatened, planned, or carried out. ¹Childhood fire setting is also the strongest predictor known of adult firesetting. If there was a way to reach youthful fire setters, to intervene and educate them, to change their be-haviour, to provide parent management to caregivers, and to prevent further in-juries and property damage sustained from fire, imagine the difference we could make in the lives of these chil-dren right now! Ontario’s Arson Preven-tion Program for Children addresses all of these areas, and is being facilitated throughout the city by Toronto fire-fighter/public educators in conjunction with the Centre for Addiction and Men-tal Health.

The first fire that Jason was known to have set was at his group fos-ter home where he had been liv-

ing for the past year, ever since he had been taken by Children’s Aid from his grandparent’s home where he had pre-viously lived. His mother had abandoned him years earlier; his father was not regularly or positively involved in his life. Jason’s behaviour continued to de-teriorate while living in the group home. One evening while angry with his fos-ter mother, Sarah, he screamed that he hated her, went upstairs to the room he shared with his teenage brother, took out a book of matches that he had con-fiscated from his grandparent’s home, and ignited some newsprint. He opened his bedroom window and tossed the burning paper outside where it drifted into a bush below. Inevitably, a signifi-cant fire developed that caused exten-sive damage to the exterior of the house. Even after the fire, Jason continued with threats to burn the house down whenever he disagreed with Sarah. Worried that one day he would truly act on his impulsivity, she readily enrolled Jason into a program that was recom-mended by Children’s Aid, ‘The Arson

Prevention Program for Children,’ oth-erwise known as TAPP-C.

The story above is true, with the names of the clients changed. Jason is very much like all other children we see involved with fire setting, and statistics show that children who set fires fall into a very consistent pattern—they are primarily male (although females ac-count for approximately 10% of hard-ened fire setters), ages four—17 years, predominantly reside in homes where

BY MARLA FRIEBE, SOUTH COMMAND, PUBLIC EDUCATION

Who HELPS Children Who Set FIRES?

1CAM-H, “What does the Treatment Component of TAPP-C Involte, www.ca mh.net

TAPP-C was created as an empirically-based assessment and intervention program to address youthful fi resetting

16

1717

stand that leaving matches out was still too much of a temptation for Jason at this time. In the end it is a simple lesson for many caregivers to learn; if children don’t have access to matches and light-ers, they can’t set fires.

Children and teens are frequently referred to TAPP-C by police when they have evidence that a child has been involved with fire setting, by youth and family courts, schools, and by the Children’s Aid Society. Individuals can also be referred to TAPP-C by contacting one of the program’s clinicians directly at (416) 535-8501 ext. 6208. For further information on the program, interested parties can contact the TFS public education section at the numbers listed below: • South Command 338-9418• North Command 338-9185• West Command 338-9470• East Command 338-9272

fighters are linked with children who have traditionally been lost in the shuf-fle of families living with challenges, and have the opportunity to bond with individuals who they typically regard as ‘important community helpers.’ Care-givers are also involved in the educa-tional sessions with Firefighters, and are encouraged to model fire safe be-haviours in the home. In the story above, when a home safety check was done by Firefighters at Jason’s father’s home (whom he lived with only on weekends) we found matches left open-ly on a living room coffee table. Jason’s father was embarrassed when he real-ized what a mistake it was to leave these articles in open view, and had previ-ously felt that his 8-year old son was ‘rehabilitated,’ and had learned from the fire that he had set. Through dis-cussions with the Firefighters involved with his son’s case, he came to under-

Developed in 1990 by firefighters with the City of Toronto Fire Depart-ment, along with the Ontario Fire Mar-shal’s Office and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (CAM-H), TAPP-C was cre-ated as an empirically-based assessment and intervention program to address youthful firesetting. It is a program that combines the fire service and mental health professionals to work with fami-lies in an attempt to eradicate fire re-lated behaviours. Toronto Firefighter/Educators provide families with home fire safety checks and education while mental health professionals conduct risk assessments and parent-child fo-cused treatment within a mental health framework.

The program aims to provide children with strategies to recognize and control their fire-related impulses and behav-iours. The treatment focuses on three principles; that fire involvement by chil-dren usually indicates an absence of fire-safe behaviours, that fire-related behaviours are learned, and that the family home (or alternative care envi-ronment) is an important setting for learning fire safe behaviours. TAPP-C treatment will include education on the importance of fire safe attitudes, the role of fire-safe behaviours for the fam-ily, understanding and eliminating fire-starting materials and other fire related materials, and improving supervision and monitoring habits. ²

The success rate of TAPP-C is clear—the recidivism rate is almost at zero in most cases. Perhaps the reason why TAPP-C is so successful as an interven-tion program is due to the co-operative role of Firefighters and Clinicians. Fire-

The program aims to provide children with strategies to rec-ognize and control their fi re-related impulses and behavioursWho HELPS Children

Who Set FIRES?

2CAM-H, “What does the Treatment Component of TAPP-C Involve, www.ca mh.net SUMMER 2008 | FIRE WATCH 17

they took in a variety of other tempo-rary foster kids!

On January 7th, 1985, Bruce was hired by the Toronto Fire Department and began his recruit training. He re-members some very cold weeks outdoors learning to lay and reload hose. When he was finished his training, he was sta-tioned at Runnymede on an aerial that ran less than 200 calls per year. To es-cape the “semi-retired” aerial, Bruce vol-unteered to relieve out constantly and spent much of his time at what are now known as, Station 426 and Station 423.

One strong memory for Bruce from his time at Station 423 was meeting Tim. Bruce came to the kitchen table to have a coffee with the guys. One guy named Tim looked a little odd due to his coke bottle glasses, but he was wearing his dress uniform as was the custom at that time.

Tim had gone to a nearby school to take classes for what they called back then, “The trainable mentally retarded.” After his school had visited the fire hall a few times Tim had developed an inter-est in the station. He was now working in a sheltered workshop, and would visit the hall for an hour or so, on his way home each day. Over time, the fire fight-ers had given him various bits of uni-form, so that he looked like a fire fighter. Tim had also learned how to behave in the fire hall. Just like Bruce, many guys coming in to relieve were fooled into thinking that Tim was one of the crew.

When the alarm sounded, Tim would stand aside until the crew was on the truck. Then he would go to the appara-tus floor and put on his old discarded helmet, petch coat, and boots, and by the time the truck was leaving the sta-tion, Tim was dressed. He would then sweep and mop the floor where the truck had been. If the private phone rang, Tim

Member Profi leBY TONY MACDONALD, TORONTO FIRE CAPTAIN, STATION 445A

ing, and she needed a place to live. That was the beginning of Bruce and Ingrid’s life as foster parents.

In 1977, they were asked to care for a five year old boy for a few days. Bobby was a “human perpetual motion ma-chine”, rolling up the stairs and talking non-stop. “Yes, he’s rather busy” con-ceded the social worker as she left. They discovered that the best way to use up Bobby’s energy was to pay him to catch grasshoppers since they had hundreds of them eating their way through the gar-den. Bobby was fascinated with the grasshoppers and spent hours watching insects. When Bobby discovered that the Praying Mantis ate grasshoppers, he de-veloped a group of some of the fattest specimens around. The Praying Mantis family had a steady diet of grasshoppers and took care of the grasshopper crowd-ing problem. Bobby lived with the Camp-bell family until he was eighteen.

By the time the eighties arrived, Bruce and Ingrid and their two children, Nathan and Bart, were sharing their home with five long term foster kids. Most of these kids were developmen-tally delayed. In addition to this load,

In 1974, Bruce Campbell applied to four of the Fire Departments that now make up the Toronto Fire Ser-

vices. In those days, an applicant had to weigh at least 160 pounds. The com-ment Bruce remembers most is, “Too bad kid! Call us when ya gain some weight.”

Bruce and his wife Ingrid, had a friend visit them in 1976. She brought one of her students named Maria, who was a little girl with Downs Syndrome. They learned that Maria was a ward of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society. It was still common at that time for parents to give custody of such children to the Catholic Children’s Aid, and some Doc-tors even recommended this action.

Attitudes were changing and the group home where Maria lived was clos-

18

on Bruce Campbell

would take messages, but he knew not to answer the department phone. Tim also impressed everyone by remember-ing their badge numbers.

Tim’s greatest moment was when the pumper was sent to a nearby grass fire. He was in his fire gear on the platform when a lady came over to speak with him about the fire. Robby, the aerial driver came over to help the lady, but she waved her hand in his face and said “Quiet, I’m talking to the fireman.” Tim was so happy.

Late in 1989, Bruce had fewer foster children because all of the original ones had grown up and left home. Instead, they often took in kids for short terms. They got a call from their social worker

who told them about a baby who was born prematurely and would probably suffer from cerebral palsy, as well as physical, and developmental delays. The mother had just become a single parent and had two other children. The social worker asked if they could take care of the baby until the mother was able to take care of him. Ingrid was very excited when she came back from the Neo-Natal unit. She said “Andre’s very alert, gives

eye contact, and relates to peo-ple. He may have physical chal-lenges, but he’s bright and intel-ligent.” By the time that the mother decided that she had her hands full with her other two children, Andre had been with the Campbells for a year! They adopted him and as Ingrid had predicted, Andre was a bright child. He uses a wheel-chair, and is now doing well at high school.

The Catholic Children’s Aid kept sending them cute, special needs babies. It was a devious ploy and after they adopted An-dre, they then adopted Patrick,

Allyne, and then Mathew. With this large ongoing commitment, they stopped fostering. They still keep in touch with most of their earlier foster kids who come back to visit a few times each year.

Bruce says “being a foster parent isn’t always pleasant, but there are plenty of good times and I recommend that people consider it.”

In 1993, Bruce accepted a temporary assignment at the Fire Academy on Knox Street. He was asked to be

the technical illustrator for the Rope Rescue manual. It was supposed to be for less than a year, but soon he was serving as a rope rescue instructor. Then he began helping to train the new recruits. Working with a group of eager recruits was exciting so he applied for a position as a Training Officer and was accepted. The years that followed were busy, challenging, and satisfying. They developed and delivered a recruit pro-

gram based on the OFM curriculum to Vaughan Fire recruits. They also deliv-ered a recruit program for fire fighters from Dubai. During this time, Bruce and Ingrid received Local 113’s Al Pears-all Award for their work with foster chil-dren and an award from the Credit Union of a similar nature.

After amalgamation, Bruce helped with training fire fighters on the IMS system, then the selection process for SCBA, then more IMS training. Work-ing with training officers from other de-partments, and a whole new group of senior officers was very interesting.

Finally, in late 2001, it became appar-ent that shift work would give Ingrid and Bruce more time to attend all of the vari-ous appointments that the kids needed, so Bruce requested a transfer back to the trucks. Bruce got his transfer but had to complete SCBA, plus Search and Rescue practical training with the next class of recruits. Ironically, the class started on January 7th, which was exactly seven-teen years from when he had started, and one of his students was the son of one of his oiginal classmates!

Member Profi leBY TONY MACDONALD, TORONTO FIRE CAPTAIN, STATION 445A

on Bruce Campbell

SUMMER 2008 | F IRE WATCH 19

20

presented in recognition of outstanding volunteer service for the direct benefit of Toronto fire fighters.

The five individuals receiving awards and all the others we received nomina-tions for, certainly have gone above the

One of Local 3888’s major fund-raising activities is our Fire Fighters Ball. This years’ ball

took place on Friday, May 2, 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel. In conjunction with the ball, the Toronto Professional Fire Fight-ers’ Association hosts the pre-ball lun-cheon. The pre-ball luncheon is an op-portunity to not only bring focus to our fundraising efforts, but also to give spe-cial recognition to our members for their off-duty activities. In attendance were the award recipients and their families, Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, Local 3888 Executive Board, senior TFS manage-ment staff and members of the media. The Local 3888 off-duty awards pro-gram consists of four separate and dis-tinct categories which recognize the exceptional efforts and achievements of our members while off-duty. The first award is the Bernard “Ben” Bonser award which is awarded to a Toronto fire fighter who, while off-duty, made a rescue or was involved in saving the life of a citizen in a hazardous or life threat-ening situation. The second award is the Al Pearsall award. This award is pre-sented to the Toronto Fire Fighter who best contributed their time and abilities while off-duty toward the improvement of his or her community. And the final

Local 3888 award is the Roy Silver Award. This Award is presented to the Toronto Fire Fighter who, during the past year, best distinguished himself/herself by performing first aid and/or CPR while off-duty. The Box 12 award is

2008200820082008200820082008200820082008200820082008200820082008200820082008AwardsAwardswardsAwardsAOFF-DUTY

Fire Fighter Jeff Pos accepts the Roy Silver Award from (l to r) Deputy Chief, Frank Lamie, 3888 Executive Board Member, Kevin Ashfi eld, and 3888 Secretary-Treasurer, Frank Ramagnano.


truck; they delivered a shock to the vic-tim and continued CPR until the arrival of an Ambulance. Andy and his col-league assisted the paramedics enroute to the hospital where the victims vital signs were re-established.

Al Pearsall AwardThe Al Pearsall award for community service is being awarded to Fire Captain Bill Hawley. Bill has been a volunteer and active member of the Toronto Fire Fighters’ War Veterans Association since 1990 and has risen to the job as 1st Vice President which is the position he currently holds today. He has also volunteered many hours of service at the Timmy Tyke Hockey Tournaments, Muscular Dystrophy boot drives and Ronald McDonald House to name a few.

Roy Silver AwardThe Roy Silver Award for First Aid is be-ing awarded to fire fighter Jeff Pos. Jeff stopped by station 114 to pick up per-

sonnel items and was speaking to the driver of Command 10 when he heard some construction workers across the street yelling that one of their colleagues had collapsed. Jeff asked the fire fighter to get some equipment and went across the street to assist with the collapsed man. Jeff found the victim without vital signs, and with help, moved the worker off the branches he was laying on to solid ground where he started doing CPR. The fire fighter from the station brought over medical equipment and helped with CPR. They attached the de-fibrillator pads and delivered a shock before any other help arrived; after ap-prox 20 minutes a pulse was regained and the worker was transported to North York General Hospital.

Nomination forms are distributed in early January of each year to solicit entries for the TPFFA off-duty awards. All members of Local 3888 are encouraged to submit an entry for consideration on behalf of a fellow deserving member.

2008Awards

call of duty. Without the selfless acts that our members are involved in each year, it would impossible to continue our Off Duty Awards program.

Box 12 Award This year’s winners are Acting Captain Geoff Boisseau from North Command and Fire Fighter John McGill from South Command. They are being recognized for their contributions related to fire fighter survival and Rapid Intervention Team training. Geoff and John were in-strumental in bringing both the union and management together to formulate a standard response when fire fighters get in a Mayday trouble at a fire.

The Bernard “Ben” Bonser AwardThis year’s Ben Bonser Award goes to Fire Captain Andrew Blair. Andy was returning from Canadian Forces Base Petawawa with three other GTA fire fighters when they came upon a car ac-cident. They stopped their vehicle and quickly took control of the accident scene; they used the tools they had in their truck to extricate the victim who had no vital signs. After removal, Andy and a Halton Hills fire fighter started CPR and proceeded to hook up the defi-brillator they were carrying in their

Jack Layton, Leader of Canada’s NDP, addresses the attendees at Local 3888’s Annual Off-Duty Awards Luncheon which was held on May 2nd at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto.

Toronto Acting Captain, Geoff Boisseau and Fire Fighter, John McGill are presented with this year’s Box 12 Award for their efforts and contributions related to fi re fi ghter survival and Rapid Intervention Team training.

[ ]GEOFF AND JOHN WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING BOTH THE UNION AND MANAGEMENT TOGETHER TO FORMULATE A STANDARD RESPONSE WHEN FIRE FIGHTERS GET IN A MAYDAY TROUBLE AT A FIRE.

22

20 additional fire fighters, resulting in the Township Reeve threatening the removal of TV sets and beds from fire stations.

In 1963, Station 7 is erected at 947 Mar-tin Grove Road. A two year CA was negoti-ated, bringing the first class rate to $5600 in 1964. On January 7, 1963, an Etobicoke landmark, the Palace Pier Dance Station was completely destroyed after a $500,000 fire. Fire crews from New Toronto joined over forty fire fighters from Etobicoke to fight this blaze that was visible from Buf-falo. In 1964, Roy Weech was appointed Fire Chief.

The Association filed for Arbitration in 1965 in another attempt to attain the 42-hour work week, which the Township re-fuses to negotiate. The arbitration award included a 42-hour work week (eliminated the 24-hour Sunday shift) and increased the first class rate to $5900. The victory of the reduced work week was short lived however because the Ontario Government passed legislation less than two months later establishing a 42-hour work week for fire fighters. Station 8, located at 666 Ren-forth Drive, was opened on the west side of Highway 427 to serve the growing pop-ulation in the Township. The Association filed two grievances. The first grievance charged that the department’s promotional policy, in place since 1964, permitted fa-vouritism in the selection of candidates for promotion. This grievance was resolved during the process and prior to going to arbitration with some modifications to the promotional policy. The second grievance involved the members’ pension plan and

The Fire Department continued to grow with the opening of more full time stations. Station 4, at 3 Lunness Road in Alderwood, opened in 1957, replacing the Volunteer Fire Brigade that operated in that area of Etobicoke Township for many years, fol-lowed by the opening of Station 5 at 1750 Islington Ave. A two year agreement was negotiated to include a 50% co-share for Ex-tended Health Care benefits, provisions for WCB coverage, a possible pension plan with retirement at age 60, and an increase in the rate of a first class fire fighter to $4305 in 1957 and $4605 in 1958.

In 1959, the Township of Etobicoke opened Station 6, located at 308 Prince Ed-ward Drive, resulting in the disbandment of the Kingsway-Lambton and Humber Bay Volunteer Brigade. Station 3 was relocated to larger facilities at 280 Burnhamthorpe Road and became the new Headquarters of the Etobicoke Fire Department. Member-ship in the Association was now at 130. Another two year agreement was reached, taking the rate to $5030 in 1960. The thought of earning $100 a week, a salary once considered as impossible for a ‘Fire-man’, was now the talk among the mem-bership.

The first Board of Arbitration in Etobi-coke’s history, covering 1961 and 1962, resulted in the reduction to the work week from 56 hours to 48 hours. Because the As-sociation had not asked for an increase in salary in their unsuccessful quest to reduce the work week to 42 hours, their salary re-mained the same at $5030. The reduction in the work week necessitated the hiring of

O n June 15, 1953, the first full time Fire Station was opened in the Queensway area at 615 Roy-

al York Road with the hiring of 15 full time Professional Fire Fighters to create a Fire Department establishment of 18 person-nel. The Fire Chief was Frederick N. Mitch-ell. On October 15th of that same year, the Etobicoke Township Fire Fighters’ Associa-tion formed and were chartered as Local 1137, I.A.F.F. The first President of Local 1137 was Jim Britton. The first Collective Agreement (CA) was signed on November 28, taking effect January 1, 1954, which included the two platoon system (a 56-hour work week), a first class salary of $3750, a Fire Prevention Officer rate of $3600, pro-motional language, a grievance procedure and recognition of the Union as the bar-gaining agent.

In 1954, Hurricane Hazel struck Etobi-coke with grave consequences. In addition to more than 50 citizens killed by the Hur-ricane, five volunteer Fire Fighters from the Kingsway-Lambton brigade were killed.

The year 1955 saw the opening of two more full-time stations (Station 2 at 2120 Kipling Avenue in Rexdale and Station 3 in Islington Village at 5000 Dundas Street West), the renewal of the CA with an in-crease in the first class rate to $3900 and the accumulation of sick leave credits to a maximum of 180 days. Chief Howard A. Flanagan succeeded Chief F. N. Mitchell.

Negotiated changes in 1956 included a check-off system for Union dues and an in-crease in the first class rate and the Fire Prevention Officer rate to $4100.

ETOBICOKE FIRE FIGHTERS’ ASSOCIATION AND DEPARTMENT HISTORY BY ERNIE THORNE, MEMBER OF THE FORMER ETOBICOKE LOCAL 1137

The thought of EARNING $100 A WEEK, a salary once considered as IMPOSSIBLE for a ‘FIREMAN’, was now the TALK AMONG the MEMBERSHIP.

23SUMMER 2008 | FIRE WATCH 23

the CPP. The Arbitrator ruled in favour of the Association.

A two year CA was reached, raising the rate of a first class fire fighter salary to $6255 in 1966 and $6630 in 1967.

On January 1, 1967, the Township of Eto-bicoke achieved Borough status and was amalgamated with the three Lakeshore municipalities of Mimico, New Toronto, and Long Branch and the Association mem-bership reached 308. The Mimico and Long Branch Stations were closed with a corresponding increase in fire fighters to the New Toronto Station, located at 130 Eighth Street, now known as Station 9.

A two year CA was once again negotiat-ed, resulting in the first class rate of $7725 in 1968 and $8190 in 1969.

In 1970, Station 10 was opened at 1549 Albion Road, which resulted in the closing of the Thistletown Volunteers’ Station on Irwin Road. The CA was negotiated, result-ing in a first class salary of $9600 effective January 1st and $9800 effective July 1st. Improvements to benefits resulted in the Corporation paying 75% of the premium cost for OHIP and Extended Health Care. The Fire Chief placed another rescue vehi-cle in service and stripped the aerials of fire fighters and officers to provide staff-ing. The Department Deputy, Brian Mitch-ell, insisted on calling the rescue vehicles his “SCAT wagons;” the term SCAT to rep-resent “Self Contained Attack Team”. How-ever, to almost everyone else in the De-partment, the term SCAT meant “Scenic Cruises And Tours,” as they were given considerable latitude as far as their travels were concerned.

A negotiated CA for 1971 raised the rate of a first class fire fighter to $10, 585, in-creased vacation entitlements, and re-quired the Corporation to pay 100% of the cost of OHIP and Extended Health Care premiums.

A two year CA was negotiated which es-tablished the first class rate of $11,455 in 1972 and $12,100 in 1973. Brian Mitchell was appointed Fire Chief in September 1972, following the death of Chief Roy

Weech. Captain Ross Bissell was appointed as Deputy Fire Chief—labour relations were never the same again.

The year 1973 saw the start of the griev-ance parade as the Association was forced to defend their Collective Agreement and the rights of their members on a regular basis. The newly appointed Fire Chief’s unilateral decision to post a department no-tice to require all Acting Officers to submit a written request to be re-qualified, by par-ticipating in new examinations, was viewed by the Association as a violation of the pro-motional policy and a grievance was filed on behalf of all Acting Officers (this from a Fire Chief that rose through the ranks without ever writing an exam!) The Arbi-trator ruled in favour of the Association and the new exams were scrapped. This griev-ance, the first of many to come, was viewed by Administration as a threat to the Chief’s authority. Many verbal threats were issued to Association members indicating that, since the Borough had more funds than the Association, the Etobicoke Fire Department Administration would bankrupt the Asso-ciation with grievances. Later that same year, in his wisdom, the Chief decided to resurrect a set of grooming rules that a pre-vious administration had formulated, yet set aside. The grooming rules were consid-ered to be more stringent that those of the Metro Toronto Police at that time. Member

Maurice Neville decided that he wasn’t go-ing to comply with these new grooming rules and was subsequently transferred to Fire Prevention. The Arbitrator ruled in fa-vour of the Association and Mr. Neville was returned to the Fire Fighting Division. The Fire Chief then decided that the grievance only applied to Mr. Neville and that all oth-ers would have to comply. After receiving a letter from the Association indicating that the Association would take further action should he not reconsider, the Chief aban-doned his position. Jeffrey Sack was the As-sociation solicitor (of Levinson, Sack & Dunn) during these proceedings, which was the start of a very long friendship.

In 1974, the first class rate was increased to $13,340 on January 1 and to $14,010 July 1.

Station 11 was opened in 1975, located at 267 Humberline Drive. The Collective Agreement is amended to include a refer-ence to a “Joint Promotional Policy” incor-porating ability plus seniority for promo-tion, survivor benefits for line-of-duty deaths, and a Captain or qualified Acting Captain in charge of every fire fighting ve-hicle. The rate of a first class Fire Fighter was increased 15% to $16,115.

A two year CA included improvements to the dental plan and raises the first class rate to $17,550 in 1975 and to $18,550 in 1976. Two more grievances were filed and the

Etobicoke Fire Fighters battle a two alarm fire at a welding school in 1990. Photo by Bill Sandford of the Toronto Sun-Canada Wide.

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Association was successful in both of them.In 1977, the Association filed grievances

protesting three day suspensions for each of nine members for “gross insubordina-tion.” The members refused to participate in a non-scheduled examination and were unable to ascertain the reason for the exam. The grievance is denied by the Board of Arbitration and the suspensions are up-held. However, the Arbitrator rules that the Fire Chief is restricted from conduct-ing examinations beyond regular classifica-tion or promotional exams, except to deter-mine the effectiveness of the training program. The grievance process also got the Chief to indicate that he had planned on using the examinations to promote, de-mote, or fire an individual. The year 1977 was also the year in which two members registered complaints with the Ontario Hu-man Rights Commission against the Bor-ough and the Association on the basis of age discrimination (CA age 60 compulsory retirement).

The Association was unable to negotiate a renewal of the CA for 1978 and filed for arbitration in May—an Award handed down 8 months later increases the first class rate 5.8% to $19,625. June 15, 1978, was the 25th Anniversary of Etobicoke’s full-time Department, growing from 18 in 1953 to 372 in 1978. In November, the

Association filed a griev-ance on behalf of a mem-ber who is fired for an alleged assault on a Cap-tain, claiming the pun-ishment is too severe. The Arbitrator reinstated the fired member in May 1979, however, the mem-ber is returned without compensation for lost wages. The Fire Chief reassigns the reinstated member to the crew of

the Grievance Chair (Bud Exton). On De-cember 4, 1978, three members, Fire Fighter John Clark, Captain Donald Kerr, and District Chief Lloyd Janes are crushed to death under tons of falling paper while fighting a fire in the Kimberley-Clark Ware-house—the first line-of-duty deaths in the history of the Association. More than two thousand fire fighters from across North America attend the funeral services.

A two year CA was negotiated, increas-ing the first class rate by 5% on January 1, 1979 to $20,625, and by a further 4.9% on July 1, 1979 to $21,430, with wages still to be negotiated for 1980.

In February of 1980, the Association voted 180 to 8 to request an inquest into the Kimberly-Clark deaths. The inquest begins in April with Deputy Chief Bissell’s lawyer telling the press that the Union is out to get his client. Chief Mitchell’s testi-mony at the inquest is extremely critical of his department’s actions during the initial stages of the fire (the three fire fighters were killed some five hours after the alarm was sounded). With only wages to be nego-tiated, talks break down in July and the Association files for Arbitration—an Arbi-trator Awards a first class rate of $23,914. Station 12 opened at 155 The East Mall. In 1980, a special assessment is levied on each member as the Association funds are

exhausted defending their members and their Collective Agreement at Grievance Arbitrations.

In 1981, the Association again filed for Arbitration when negotiations broke off—the Corporation refused to drop their de-mand that fire fighters work 8 hour shifts. The Association initiated legal proceedings in the Ontario Supreme Court, charging the Corporation with failure to comply with the Arbitrator’s Award for 1980 (the Association subsequently won that case and the Borough had to pay the Association members a total of $85,000 in back pay). The Association filed a grievance when the Fire Chief refused to place a qualified can-didate on the promotional list. This brought the number of grievances filed by the As-sociation to more than thirty during the Mitchell/Bissell Administration of the Fire Department. The grievance was resolved to the satisfaction of the Association when Council overturned the Chief’s decision. The Arbitrator’s Award granted a 12.5% in-crease, in stages, to a first class end rate in 1981 of $26,980.

The Association again filed for Arbitra-tion in 1982—the fourth time in five years. The Association also filed suit against the Borough for failure to pay interest on the back pay from the 1980 Award (the Asso-ciation won this suit also.) Arbitration was avoided when a settlement was reached—an increase of 12.5 % to $30,350.

In 1983, the OPFFA split from the IAFF. The Etobicoke Local and many others re-mained in the IAFF. Etobicoke hosted the founding convention and the new organiza-tion reverted to the original name—The Provincial Federation of Ontario Fire Fight-ers (PFOFF). Etobicoke was given City sta-tus by the Province. The first class rate was now $31,868. The first class rate was nego-tiated to $33,143 for 1984.

In October of 1985, the Association finds itself once again having to resort to

Etobicoke Fire Fighters’Association and Department History ... Continued from page 23

On December 4, 1978, three members, Fire Fighter John CLARK, Captain Donald KERR, and District Chief Lloyd JANES are crushed to death under falling paper...

Etobicoke Fire Fighters at three alarm fire at Polish Embassy on the Lakeshore. Photo by Warren Toda of the Toronto Sun was Local 1137’s Photo of the Year 1990.

26

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Arbitration. To increase the Association’s profile, through the efforts of Public Rela-tion’s Chair, Robin Sanders, the Associa-tion enters into a community fund-raising effort for Queensway General Hospital, in partnership with Great West Entertain-ment, by hosting our first Christmas Magic Show. An Arbitration Award was handed down covering two years, which takes the first class end rate in 1986 to $37,625 and includes a number of benefit and language improvements. In 1986, after being advised that his services were no longer required, Chief Mitchell opted for “early retirement.” Deputy Chief Bissell assumed the position of Acting Fire Chief.

In 1987, a consulting firm, brought in by the City, recommended sweeping changes to the Etobicoke Fire Department, includ-ing closing fire stations and hiring a new Fire Chief. Action by the Association to combat the station closings was initiated by President Exton, with the assistance of the IAFF, which resulted in all fire stations remaining open.

In 1988, Acting Chief Bissell retired when he was bypassed by City Council and they decided to hire a Fire Chief from the “outside.” Jim Hancock was hired as the next Fire Chief and Bob Barker as the new Deputy. Labour Relations between the As-sociation and Fire Department Manage-ment improved significantly with the hir-ing of Chief Hancock and the promotion of Deputy Barker, however, each of these men moved on two years later to the disappoint-ment of many members.

Arbitration was required again in 1989 and 1990—an Interim Award raised the first class rate by 6% and 1% to $44,823 for 1989. The Award is finalized in 1990 with an end rate of $47,987. A number of bene-fits were also realized, however, the Arbi-trator removed our WCB top-up provision. Deputy Chief Robert Barker retires, and at the Association’s Annual Awards Lun-cheon, his membership in the Association is restored (Bob was overwhelmed with emotion and extremely grateful for the ges-ture). Donald Ramsey is appointed Fire

Chief when Chief Hancock is appointed Fire Chief in Kitchener.

The Association applied once again for Arbitration in 1991. Past President Exton is presented with a well deserved gift by the Association at their Annual Award’s Lun-cheon in recognition of his service to the Association and on behalf of the members for 18 years—10 as President of the Local 1137.

In 1992, the Arbitrator’s Award in-creased the rate for a first class fire fighter to $53,434 for 1992. The Association took a huge leap forward in the area of Public Relations when it took receipt of a 1945 American LaFrance ladder truck donated by Mr. Bruce Cole. “Aerial 1137,” as it would come to be known, would be taken to fun fairs, charity events, our Magic Shows, etc.—almost always driven by off-duty Fire Fighter, Peter Minns, who was believed to have never turned down a re-quest for the antique Fire Truck.

In 1993, municipal workers in Ontario were hit with legislation known as “The Social Contract.” This Ontario Statute, which went from April 1, 1993 to March 31, 1996, basically froze wages ($53,434) and benefits for three years. The Associa-tion negotiated “Rae Days” to ensure that members with less than three years would not have their wages frozen, but instead would proceed through their increments with respective increases in wages.

Effective April 1, 1996, CA negotiations were once again permitted by municipal workers. With the economy in a down turn, and following the Etobicoke CUPE and the Nurses Union in nego-tiations, who had earli-er accepted a two year freeze in wages, the As-sociation also accepted a renewal of the CA for two years with no in-crease in wages.

The amalgamation of the six Metropolitan Toronto Fire Depart-ments occurred on Jan-

uary 1, 1998. The amalgamations of the six Associations followed on December 1, 1998.

I was hired in 1980, so I wasn’t around to witness the beginnings of the full-time Etobicoke Fire Department or that of the Etobicoke Professional Fire Fighters’ Asso-ciation, Local 1137, I.A.F.F. I was, however, around for 18 of those years so I did get the opportunity to work with or talk to many fire fighters, including those dating back to many of the originals hired in 1953. I was also an Executive Board member of the Etobicoke Local for 11 years, so my experi-ence with the fire department also includ-ed labour relations (or the lack thereof) with Management. Many of the comments expressed in the above article are mine, and as such, will contain my particular point of view of an incident or event and for that, I make no apology.

No history of Local 1137 would be com-plete without the recognition of three people. First, I would like to acknowledge a good friend, Bud Exton. In addition to a written record that he compiled, Bud and I have spoken many times for hours where he would indulge me with my many ques-tions about the earlier days. The second and third persons that require recognition are Mr. Jeffrey Sack and Mr. Howard Gold-blatt, the Association attorneys since the early 1970’s. The firm of Sack, Goldblatt & Mitchell, whether they know it or not, are as much a part of our history as anyone is—a sincere thank you—not only for your expert service, but also for your friendship over the years.

Aerial #12’s water tower silhouetted against the fl ames and night sky from this three alarm fi re at Dot Plastics. Photo by Bill Sandford of the Toronto Sun was Local 1137’s Photo of the Year 1991.

Etobicoke Fire Fighters’Association and Department History ... Continued from page 25

Alone fire fighter suspended on a ridgepole attacks a roof with an axe, a gripping picture that

speaks a thousand words. A dramatic account of a fire that killed two children and rescue efforts of fire fighters to save them, a riveting published story that touched more than a 100,000 Toronto Sun readers. It was the mere poignancy and transfixing elements of these pieces of journalism that earned them recogni-tion by Toronto fire fighters.

On May 20, the Toronto Professional Fire Fighter’s Association held their an-nual Media Awards to celebrate and honour those in the media who have

BY ALYSSA PETRILLO– FIRE WATCH ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR

journalism go hand-in-hand, Mayor Miller commented on the ubiquitous love-hate relationship that city hall has with the media.

The judges for the 2008 annual To-ronto Fire Fighters media awards select-ed a handful of recipients this year who produced impeccable journalism, which covered issues that pertained to the danger, safety and rescue efforts of To-ronto fire fighters.

The award for the best story in a publi-cation with a circulation of less than 100,000 was presented to Keith Hanley for his in-depth examination of special-ized fire-fighting training and how it saved the lived of three fire fighters in danger.

The best picture in a publication with a circulation of more than 100,000 was awarded to John Hanley for his photo of

produced excellence in journalism pertaining to issues that have spe-cifically affected Toronto fire fighters.

The undeniable sophisticated ambi-ence of the evening reflected the profes-sionalism and dedication that journalists and fire fighters continually exemplify through their careers. The gala, held at Palais Royale, proved to be a night that exuded pride, hard work, determination and excellence in the world of current events and news coverage.

Among the distinguished

guests and award re-cipients was Toronto Mayor David Mill-er who spoke about his respect and ad-miration for journalists, with emphasis on the responsibility they have to the city of Toronto in delivering the news that affects their daily lives. Indisput-ably, City Hall reporting contains quali-ties of hard-hitting journalism that hits the ground running. Since politics and

The gala, held at Palais Royale, proved to be a night that exuded pride, hard work, determination and excellence in the world of current events and news coverage.

Toronto Fire Fighter, Jon Lasiuk accepts an award for his many valued contributions to the Toronto Fire Watch magazine. (l to r) President Scott Marks, Mayor David Miller, Toronto Fire Fighter Jon Lasiuk, Seretary-Trea-surer Frank Ramagnano and Toronto Fire Fighter James Coones.

28

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...


fire fighters facing flames at a roaring rooming house fire.

Rob Lamberti and Don Peat of the Toronto Sun were presented the award for best story in a publication with a circulation of more than 100,000. The piece covered a fire that killed two children and the efforts of the fire fighters who tried to save them.

Lori Paris of CFRB was awarded the Jim Morris Award for her radio story on a dangerous fire in an auto wrecking yard that involved 90 cars and 300 tires.

The Glen Cole award for best feature TV story was awarded to Christina Ste-vens for her five-part series on the fire fighters Christmas drive to supply toys for children who need them.

Reporter MairiAnna Bachynsky, along with cameraman Keith Hanley, were awarded for their spot news TV story on how intensive training saved three fire fighters caught in a sudden crisis in a house fire.

John Riddell accepted the award for best picture in a publication with a cir-culation of less than 100,000 for his image of a lone fire fighter on a rooftop using his axe. In addition, John was presented an award for his unpublished picture of a dramatic shot of four fire fighters on two ladders facing smoke and flames.

Toronto Fire Fighter, Jon Lasiuk was presented with the Best Toronto Fire Watch Article award. Jon has been involved with Fire Watch since its inception and has contributed not only the text of each and every “Hall Showcase” article published, but has also contributed other articles such as, “20th Anniversary of Haz 1” and several of the “Never Shall We For-get” pieces.

Congratulations to all of the award recipients.

Holding their awards, Keith Hanley, Marianna Bachynsky, and Brian Weatherhead from CTV pose with President Marks, Mayor Miller, Mark Ashcroft, Mark Fitzsimmons and Geoff Mortimer.

This John Riddell photo of crews from Station 341 working to ventilate through the roof of a house fi re won “Best Unpublished Photo” of the year.

Members of Global Television accept the Glen Cole award for Best Feature TV Story (l to r) Doug McLellan (editor), Mark Winterton (editor), Tyna Poulin (camera person), Christina Stevens (reporter), Scott Marks, Doug Sargent, Mayor David Miller, Farshid Shabafroozen (editor).”recipients.

30

BY TORONTO FIRE FIGHTERS GEOFF BOISSEAU and JOHN MCGILL

F I R E F I G H T E R

DESPITE EDUCATION, TRAINING, CLOSE CALLS AND FATALITIES, FIRE FIGHTERS ACROSS NORTH AMERICA ARE STILL NOT WEARING THEIR SELF-CONTAINED BREATHING APPA-RATUS (SCBA) WHEN IT IS NEEDED. WHETHER IT IS COMPLACENCY, TRADITION, PEER PRESSURE, OR JUST PLAIN IGNORANCE, IT CONTINUES TO BE ONE OF THE MOST COMMON THINGS SEEN ON A FIREGROUND. WITH EACH GENERATION OF FIRE FIGHTER, IT WOULD BE EXPECTED THAT ANY UNSAFE HABITS THAT MIGHT BE USED ON THE FIREGROUND

BY OTHER FIRE FIGHTERS ARE MINIMIZED, BUT THAT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE THE CASE. IN FACT, IT APPEARS THAT JUST THE OPPOSITE IS HAPPENING. THE UNSAFE PRACTICES OF SOME ARE BEING PICKED UP BY OTHERS.

&F I R E F I G H T E R&F I R E F I G H T E R&SURVIVAL & RESCUE

Why should I wear my SCBA?

There are countless photographs and case studies on the internet that illustrate these issues, and

despite the IAFF back to basics initia-tives and the Canadian Fallen Fire Fight-ers programs relating to increasing fi re fi ghter safety, we are still seeing exam-ples of this every day.

So in an attempt to fi gure out just why it is that, even after knowing all that they do about the hazards of not wearing SCBA, fi re fi ghters still refuse to put them on. We have come up with our own top ten reasons of why it is that they don’t:

TOP TEN REASONS NOT TO WEAR YOUR SCBA

10 No one else is. I don’t want to be embarrassed.9 It will mess up my hair. 8 It makes me hot. 7 It slows me down. I can work faster without it.6 I would have to check it, if I was going to wear it!5 It will only let me work hard for

10 minutes.4 The smoke isn’t that heavy…I can see Billy’s cigarette.3 I won’t get cancer, I only go to a few fi res a year.2 I cannot see out of the face piece it’s so scratched.1 We have a seniority based promo-tional system…I don’t want the se-nior fi re fi ghters wearing their masks, that way I can get promoted faster!

There are dozens of excuses we have all heard that didn’t make the list. Crews should sit down together and make their own top 10 list of why they don’t wear SCBA or any other PPE and why. Then weigh the RISK with the RESULT. Is it worth it?

Now consider the following.

TOP TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD WEAR YOUR SCBA

10 You do not have to hold your breath.9 Face it, people love to sound like Darth Vader when they talk.8 You look pretty cool wearing it.

7 Provides eye protection during overhaul. 6 Gives you much better visibility.5 You can fi ght a fi re for your full work cycle. 4 You are responsible for your own health and safety.3 Allows you to do your job. 2 CANCER is not a good alternative.1 YOUR FAMILY expects you to come home at the end of your shift.


Why should I wear my SCBA? After reading this article take a mo-ment to really think about the reasons why we do the things we do on the fi re-ground. Why do we continually expose ourselves to unnecessary hazards? Is it just because everyone else is, or be-cause it’s the way we have always done things? These reasons do not seem to make much sense when you really think about it.

Remember the adage, “Risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little?”

This is the corner stone for all fi re departments. It applies to all levels of the fi re service. This statement is the fi rst thing that we should think of when determining how we do things. From individual health and safety, such as checking your SCBA and wear-ing the appropriate PPE, to incident commanders choosing between an of-fensive or defensive fi re attack. If you choose to risk your own health and safety or that of your crew by continually

not wearing an SCBA when it is neces-sary then you are ‘risking a lot to save little’, and that just doesn’t make sense.

Not wearing your SCBA is one of the most selfi sh things a fi re fi ghter can do. By doing this you are risking your health, your family, and the health and safety of the other fi re fi ghters on the fi re ground, and for what?

REMEMBER…CHANGE STARTS WITH

YOU!

[ ]REMEMBER THE ADAGE, “RISK A LOT TO SAVE A LOT, RISK A LITTLE TO SAVE A LITTLE?” THIS IS THE CORNER STONE FOR ALL FIRE DEPARTMENTS. IT APPLIES TO ALL LEVELS OF THE FIRE SERVICE.

BY JON LASIUK, TORONTO FIRE FIGHTER

and paving had yet to be completed on some side streets. Half the township’s eight-man police force was assigned to motorcycles as they were cheaper than automobiles and easier to negotiate along the less than perfect street sys-tem. By the end of the decade, the town-ship had made repeated requests to its big brother to the south, the City of To-ronto, for annexation as a means to im-prove public services.

With Toronto denying East York’s re-quests for annexation, the township

Originally a separate part of the Town-ship of York, East York was itself incor-porated as a township on December 31st, 1923. Fire protection in the new Township of East York was originally provided by three sections of volunteers, with the Woodbine area being protected from a converted garage on Holborne Avenue just east of Cedarvale Avenue.

Although mostly developed by the 1920’s, East York struggled financially during its first few years. Many streets had not yet had street lights installed

Of the thousands of commuters who travel up and down Woodbine Avenue every day, few probably give a second thought to the fi re hall that stands at the corner of Holborne Avenue. Known today as Toronto

Fire Station 224, the hall at 1313 Woodbine Avenue—and the one that came before it—have had a storied and colourful history in the protection of the community of East York.

needed to improve upon its volunteer fire brigade. By 1928, township council had realized the need for a full-time professional fire department in East York. On October 8th of that year, coun-cil gave Fire Chief Tom Paveling the go ahead to hire the first four full-time firefighters. These men were stationed at the original Holborne Avenue fire hall, and were soon followed by four more firefighters hired to staff the sec-ond station on Gowan Avenue at Pape Avenue.

32

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[ ]ON THE AFTERNOON OF FRIDAY, AUGUST 16TH, 1935, GUPPY WAS DISPATCHED WITH HIS CREW FROM HOLBORNE AVENUE TO A RE-PORTED GRASS FIRE. THE WEATHER WAS HOT AND HUMID AS THE CREW KNOCKED DOWN THE FLAMES.

While perhaps adequate to store a single pumper, the original Holborne Avenue fire hall, basically a single-bay garage, had never been constructed to house full-time firefighters. The firefighters made do with makeshift quarters that had been dug out of the earth below the garage to form a partial basement.

One of the full-time firefighters sta-tioned at the Holborne Avenue hall was Edward Guppy. Living with his wife Sarah and four children on nearby Vir-ginia Avenue, “Ted” was one of the original volunteer firefighters in the township. Well-regarded by the other men on the job, he was one of the first eight men to be offered full-time em-ployment on the new professional fire department in 1928.

On the afternoon of Friday, August 16th, 1935, Guppy was dispatched with his crew from Holborne Avenue to a re-ported grass fire. The weather was hot and humid as the crew knocked down the flames. Upon returning to the hall, Firefighter Guppy complained of chest pains following which he collapsed. A nearby doctor was brought from his of-fice, but to no avail. Edward Guppy was pronounced dead two hours later. He was forty-six years old.

Guppy was given a full fire depart-ment funeral followed by interment at St. John’s Norway Cemetery on Kings-ton Road. His grieving brother firefight-ers later paid for a tombstone to be placed over his grave. (Those visiting his grave will notice the typo listing the wrong month of death that remains to this day.)

The firefighters on Holborne Avenue continued to endure their less than ad-equate quarters for nearly two more de-

cades. After being invited by the fire-fighters to view the “dugout” in 1952, Alderman C. Howard Chandler called the living conditions at the hall “primi-tive” at best. Land was secured at the north-east corner of Woodbine Avenue and Holborne Avenue for a new fire hall and on June 23rd, 1952, the J.S. Laxton Co. was given the tender to build the new hall.

The building, which cost $94, 898.00, would double as the fire department’s headquarters. Less than one year later, in October 1953, the new two-floor, two and a half bay hall would open for business. It boasted many of the latest conveniences, including an electric hose drier. A brand new 1953 LaFrance pumper was purchased for the hall and was placed in service beside a second-hand 1942 International pumper that had been ac-quired from the Royal Ca-nadian Air Force as war surplus.

After enduring decades living below their truck, the thirty-five officers and men of the East York Fire Department were justifiably proud of hav-ing the most modern fire hall in Metro-politan Toronto. East York would at the same time during the 1950’s be praised for having the lowest per capita fire loss of any Canadian municipality with a population of over 10,000. Regardless of that proud achievement, the firefight-ers from Woodbine Avenue have none-theless had their fair share of large and tragic fires. Perhaps none is remem-bered as being more tragic than the

Christmas season fire of December 18th, 1965. Just before 4 P.M. on that Saturday afternoon, East York Fire Con-trol received a telephone call reporting a house fire at 26 Aldwych Avenue. Both stations were dispatched and upon arrival firefighters were told that a num-ber of children were trapped in the well-involved, two storey semi-detached house.

The mother, Beverley Wilkins had fallen asleep on the living room sofa af-ter sending her two oldest boys to play in the basement rec-room. Her two oth-er toddlers were asleep on the second floor when she was awoken by smoke pouring up the basement stairs. Neigh-

bours could hear the boys screaming from the basement but could not reach them. Captain Will Porter and Firefight-er Norm Grey made the punishing trip into the basement to bring out the two boys, while Acting Captain George Ker-foot (who would become Fire Chief in 1980) and Firefighter Gord Madden res-cued the two toddlers from the top floor via ground ladders. The heroic actions were fruitless, though, as all four boys later died at East General Hospital. It would be the worst loss of life ever at an East York fire.

The 1960’s would also be a period of great change in East York. January 1st,

34

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1967 saw the amalgamation of the Township of East York and the Town of Leaside. Both municipalities had full-time fire departments, and they were consolidated. Ernest Bell, who had com-manded the forty-four man Leaside Fire Department, became the new Fire Chief in the newly minted Borough of East York.

With three stations in the “new” de-partment, the fire halls were renum-bered, with the Woodbine station becoming #3. In order to alleviate the overcrowding that was occurring at Woodbine, the fire department’s head-quarters, as well as its radio room, were soon moved to bigger offices at the Leaside fire station.

The Woodbine fire hall remained an important part of the E.Y.F.D. through-out the 1980’s and 1990’s, with three of the department’s seven in-service appa-ratus responding from behind the hall’s famous bright green garage doors. On January 1st, 1998, the E.Y.F.D. was amalgamated into the new Toronto Fire Services and the Woodbine fire hall became T.F.S. Station 224.

Even though the previous East York fire stations have been divided among two separate commands within the T.F.S., the staff at “Woodbine” have been justifiably proud of the esprit de corps that has remained. Its firefight-ers, both retired and active, can look back with pride at the contributions they have made to their community over the last eighty years.

APPARATUS ASSIGNED TO STATION 224 Rescue 224 operates with a 1996 Spartan/

Almonte 5000 l.p.m. rescue-pumper origi-

nally purchased by the North York Fire

Dept. It carries shop # 24074. Pumper 224

operates with a 2007 Spartan/Seagrave

6000 l.p.m. triple combination pumper as-

signed shop # 24131.

Station 224... Continued from page 33

36

LODD—3888 MEMBERIn the case of a fire fighter killed whilst in the performance of their duties or who dies as a result of injuries which were received during such performance of duty, they are entitled to a funeral with full department honours.What does this means for the Committee?As soon as the Committee is notified that there has been a LODD, the follow-ing happens in a short span of time:1 We meet with the family, explain who we are, what they are entitled to, what a full department funeral consists of, and find out what the families’ wishes are.2 We start looking for a funeral home, church, and a suitable place to hold the wake, ensuring they are all available on the same day. We have to take into ac-count the large number of people who will be attending the funeral, which we have to explain to the family as their original choice of location may not be suitable.

3 Notifications are sent to the IAFF, OPFFA, 3888 Members, Website, Coun-cillors, Executive Board Members, Stew-ards, Fire Chief, Management, Fire Marshall, Mayor, and Press.4 Organizing the funeral includes: issu-ing a press release, securing two aerials and the Canadian flag, padre, pipe band, bugler, colour party, parade marshal, bell for the last alarm, pall bearers, ush-ers, photographer, police for road clo-sures, flag for the casket, flag folders, white gloves, black bands for caps, visi-tations, flowers, trucks for the day of the funeral, parade route, transport and anything else that is necessary to make the day run smoothly.5 We also organize the wake after-wards.6 The Committee members attend the visitations, which are usually held over two days with two visitations per day. This gives the Committee the opportu-nity to meet the members of the family, friends, co-workers and also to get to-

gether and check and double check to ensure we have everything covered for the day of the funeral.7 The day of the funeral, the Commit-tee members arrive early at the funeral home, church or the hall where the fire fighter used to work. This gives us a chance to go over last minute details and clarify what our responsibilities are for the day. At this point, the entire Ex-ecutive Board are helping out, ushering, directing parking, setting up the aerials and handing out services.

Unfortunately, we organize far too many of these funerals, so everyone knows what is expected of them on the day of the funeral and all of the organiza-tion and preparations from the previous days fall into place to make the funeral a memorable and fitting occasion for the fallen fire fighter and their family.

At this point, I would like to thank the following whose assistance helps bring all of this to fruition: Toronto Fire Pipes and Drum Band, Toronto Fire Pa-

BY RAYANNE DUBKOV, CHAIR, LOCAL 3888 CEREMONIAL AND BEREAVEMENT COMMITTEE

Ceremonial and CeremonialBereavement Committee

dres, Nigel Soper (Bugler), Adrian Olley (Bell Ringer), Andrew Berg and Dave Connor (Parade Marshals), Toronto Fire Colour Party, Public Information Sec-tion of Toronto Fire Services (Mike Strapko, Randy Piercey, Dave Eckerman, Karen Reid and Adrian Ratushniak, Bill Radcliffe (Staff at the union office), City of Toronto Protocol Office (Nancy Mc-sween) and the Fire Chief and Manage-ment.

From notification of a death to the ac-tual funeral service is usually about five days—two of those days being visita-tion days. So, the Committee has three days in order to complete all of the above tasks. As you can well imagine, this amount of preparation requires working every day and late nights put-ting everything else on hold including our home life.

With a Line of Duty Death, all reason-able costs are covered by WSIB. The fu-neral home will send all bills directly to WSIB and they pay the funeral home so the family doesn’t have to worry about any costs. The bills for the wake are paid for by the Association and then sent to WSIB to recover the costs. If an active member dies off duty, the only differences between a full line of duty funeral and their funeral are:• The use of a department vehicle to

carry the casket.• The Large Canadian Flag and the aeri-

als.• The service is scaled down a little bit,

we don’t usually have the full band or the bugler, just a single piper.

• The Association pays $5000.00 to-wards the cost of the funeral which is paid directly to the funeral home and the association also pays the cost of the wake.At the end of the day, we try to hon-

our the families’ wishes. Again, we work very closely with the family from start to finish and most people don’t realize we have this much involvement.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMITTEEWhen we receive timely notification of the death of a relative of one of our members or of a retired member, we send flowers or provide a donation. However, we rely on members to phone us to provide this notification. We would rather be told 6 times about a death than not at all, so please call with the details and we will do the rest.

We arrange transportation, where possible, to LODD funerals and police funerals within a reasonable distance of Toronto. Information regarding these ar-rangements is sent via printers to the halls, placed on the 3888 website and emailed to registered members of the website. If you are not on the email list for notifications, visit the website at www.torontofirefighters.org, register to get the details, and attend some of the funerals. You will be surprised how ap-preciative the other Locals, family mem-bers and members of the public are when we attend the funerals. If you wish to be added to my mailing list for notifi-cations, email me at [email protected].

For any local within the boundaries of the IAFF 13th district or a local within 1000km of Toronto, the President or designate and Committee Chair or des-ignate will attend. Again, if there is enough time and interest, we will ar-

range transportation and hotels and hopefully members will attend with us.

For any other Canadian Local, the President has the discretion to send rep-resentation from Local 3888.

In extenuating circumstances, such as multiple deaths, the President or des-ignate, Committee Chair or designate shall attend.

In all circumstances, when not at-tending, a letter of condolence is sent to the Local.MEMORIALS AND CEREMONIESWe attend and assist in organizing vari-ous memorials and ceremonies, such as the annual City of Toronto Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial at Stn 334, the annual Provincial Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial at Queen’s Park, the Canadian Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Ottawa, and the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial in Colorado.PARADESWe attend and organize numerous pa-rades in the city, including the St. Pat-rick’s Day Parade, Easter Beaches Pa-rade, Warriors Day Parade, Remembrance Day Parade, Santa Claus Parade in Etobi-coke, and for the first time last year, the Santa Claus Parade in Toronto. UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2008The following list details a number of events that the Ceremonial and Bereave-ment Committee will be involved in this year. So, why not come out and join us? We are always looking for volunteers, or just come out and have some fun and spread the word. • CNE Parade—August 2008• Warriors Day Parade—August

2008• Fallen FF Memorial in Ottawa—

Weekend of September 13th and 14th 2008. The Union will provide trans-portation to Ottawa on Saturday. We have negotiated discounted room rates with the Radisson Hotel for the Saturday night. The memorial is held on the Sunday Morning. More and more members are attending this


Ceremonial and Bereavement Committee

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memorial. This year we have three ac-tive members being recognized—Gary Wilson, John Chappelle and Richard Mann. The hotel rooms are pre-booked so email the Committee if you want to attend.

• Fallen FF Memorial in Colorado—September 2008

• Fallen FF Memorial Queens Park —October 5th 2008. Service at Queen’s Park Memorial with barbe-cue and refreshments back at the Union hall on Commissioners Street.

• Remembrance Day Ceremonies—November 2008. There are ceremo-nies held throughout the city with most 3888 members attending the East York ceremony and then going back to the legion for food and re-freshments afterwards.

• Santa Claus Parade—both Toronto and Etobicoke

• Plaque Ceremonies—This is a LODD plaque that is put in the hall where the fire fighter last worked. It is a short, informal ceremony held in the hall when the shift of the fallen fire fighter is working. A Toronto Fire Pa-dre attends and conducts a short ser-vice with the family and friends of the fire fighter in attendance. Afterwards, we have coffee and refreshments and share stories of the fire fighter.

Due to new legislation there are more and more fire fighters now be-ing recognized as Line of Duty Deaths which means the following:• Line of Duty Death plaque at the hall.• Name added to the Memorial wall

at Station 334.• Name added to the Queen’s Park

Memorial.• Name added to the Colorado

Memorial.With the large number of our mem-

bers now recognized since the passing of the new legislation, the Committee decided to hold one ceremony on April 17th at the TFS Training Academy, hon-ouring 35 fire fighters.

We would like to thank everyone that made that night a success. We had a vol-unteer from each hall accept the plaque and take it back to their hall to ensure it was placed in a prominent setting with-in the station.

All the Toronto Fire Services Padres took part in the service as they felt they had to be a part of this very important evening. The Fire Chief and President Scott Marks presented the plaques to the 35 fire fighters from the various halls. Toronto City Councillors were also in attendance and the Public Informa-tion Section attended and took photo-graphs and video of the ceremony.

Dave Archer put together a wonderful power point presentation, which played while the plaque was being presented, to show the fire fighter who was being recognized.

Cathy McNamara—the daughter of Carl Quinn, who was recognized that evening—spoke on behalf of the fami-lies and explained how much it meant to the families to have their loved ones fi-nally recognized and what each ceremo-ny means to them.

The one thing I have realized since working on this Committee is the neces-sity to ensure that your family is aware of your wishes should anything happen to you. Make sure they know who to call at the Union office or at the fire depart-ment, and finally, please make sure your beneficiary information is up to date and correct. It only takes 5 minutes out of your day to make the calls to check that the information is correct. That phone call now could save your loved ones a lot of trouble in the future when they least need it. So make that phone call now.

If you need more information on what the Ceremonial and Bereavement Com-mittee does, or how you can help out, just give one of us a call.

We look forward to seeing more and more members out at the events that we attend.

Ceremonial Committee and their Role ... Continued from page 37

4040

COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

REVIEW


When looking at MWP’s it is worthwhile to note how arbitrators have ruled and created these policies since their incep-tion. Although other arbitrators have made earlier rulings, Ken Swan’s award on the matter with the Cornwall Fire Fighters in 2002 succinctly clarifi es some of the questions we have raised most often. They include whether it is voluntary or manda-tory and right to medical information.

The MWP in our contract was awarded in the fi rst round of negotiations with Martin Teplitsky. It has had some minor tweaking of language but for the most part it remains intact on its intent. This policy ensures that a member who is injured, sick or disabled by a non-job related acci-dent or illness and can no longer do their job as a fi re fi ghter, has an opportunity to be retrained and/or accommodated in another position with the TFS.

Members should understand that the MWP deals with short-term, long-term and permanent accommodations. It is not a program you only enter at some point in time during an illness; you are in it from the moment you book off on sickness. Therefore, the rules apply from that time on.

The recent FCC reminds members that if they are absent for a full tour of

Modifi ed Work Program Policy–Appendix B THE MODIFIED WORK PROGRAM (MWP) IS AN IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF OUR COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT BOTH FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE AND FROM THAT OF THE CITY. MWP’S HAVE SLOWLY AND STEADILY MADE THEIR WAY INTO CONTRACTS OVER THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS. THIS HAS BEEN A SIDE EFFECT, BUT NECESSARY REQUIREMENT OF THE LEGISLATION REQUIRING EMPLOYERS TO ACCOMMODATE EMPLOYEES WITH DISABILITIES, BOTH LONG AND SHORT TERM.

duty and will not be returning in the following tour they are required to sub-mit a Return to Work (RTW) form within fi fteen (15) days following the fi rst day of absence. This is a requirement for anyone booking sick. Failure to submit that RTW is a breach of the collective agreement. There is also a requirement to answer the question of the PC on whether you are coming back in the 2nd tour. Whose responsibility it is to contact who is still an outstanding issue and one we are continuing to discuss with administration. The requirement of the RTW is in the MWP and it is not con-tingent on communication between the parties. Everyone is required to submit the RTW within 15 days.

Modifi ed work is mandatory on both sides. Arbitrators have upheld this posi-tion time and time again. Unions have argued that sick banks are a negotiated benefi t that members should have access to instead of working in modifi ed posi-tions. Arbitrators have not agreed. Their position is simply that if an employer pro-vides modifi ed work in a manner consis-tent with the restrictions determined by a doctor, then the employee cannot be con-sidered sick or injured, because they are able to do the work. By the same token an

employer must provide available work un-less they can show undue hardship which is not an easy thing for them to prove.

You are entitled to use your own doc-tor and have him/her complete the RTW. The employer is allowed to contact your doctor and discuss the restrictions and available modifi ed work, but not the underlying medical conditions. If there is a disagreement in whether the employee can participate in the modifi ed work, there is a dispute process which utilizes an independent third party doctor who renders a ruling. This doctor can only look at medical issues on the matter in dispute.

The MWP is a benefi t and offers mem-bers a form of employment insurance that was unheard of thirty years ago. Like with any benefi t or improvement there is a corresponding change to the employ-ee’s responsibilities. What we have in our MWP is a culmination of what is legally required and accepted by legislation and arbitrators. The level of job protection if you are injured in a car accident or other mishap ensures that every available at-tempt is made to allow you to continue working within the fi re service and main-tain your wage and your job. This is the real benefi t of the MWP.

COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

REVIEW

42

It should be quite evident to all of us by now that a strong

political presence, at all three levels of Government is

necessary. The success of a strong political presence gen-

erally parallels the success of a local and its respective provin-

cial governing organization—in our case the OPFFA.

Your Political Action Committee, known as Toronto

FIREPAC, has been directed to develop and maintain a consis-

tent and effective political action fund raising program for our

Local. The primary objective of Toronto FIREPAC, through

direction from the Executive Board Government Relations

Committee, is to affect the outcome of elections by electing

candidates that are strongly committed to improving the lives

and safety of Fire Fighters and the citizens that we protect.

In order for this to happen we need to communicate with

and educate the Members of the TPFFA about the benefits of

greater political involvement and to create and effective orga-

nization with structure to coordinate the Association’s in-

volvement in election campaigns.

Results usually speak volumes and we only need to reflect

back to the fall 2007 Provincial election in which the Liberals

successfully secured another majority government with the

help of Fire Fighter local’s right across this Province. In the

10 campaigns Local 3888 participated in we were successful

in either securing the election or re-election of the candidates

we supported.

As Professional Fire Fighters in the Province of Ontario the

accomplishments we have collectively made with the Mc-

Guinty Liberals will allow us to enjoy greater security as

we proceed through our careers. Our lobby efforts coupled

with the willingness of this Government to cooperate and

3888 FIREPAC

PLATINUMAlgar, TimAllister, PhillipBeer, DonBennett, RonBerenz, RickBizzell, EricBlack, KeithBoisseau, GeoffBrandstetter, JoeBrown, MitchBuckingham, SteveBull, ChrisBurtenshaw, AdrianCartwright, BrianChow, PeterChristensen, GaryCooney, BillCooper, JackCreed, JohnDancy, JohnDillon, JimDion, JohnDoherty, HughDomenegato, MikeDowney, LeoDraper, MikeDubkov, RayanneEdgerton, MikeEmerson, DarrylEnslen, JamesEyers, ScottFalkner, AlanFletcher, JimGayman, TimGiffin, ColinGraba, DennisGreen, Jim

Grimwood, RobGuy, CharlesHaigh, KirkHalls, PaulHals, DanHamilton, IanHamilton, KeithHarvey, PeterHastings, GaryHayes, PeterHickey, KironHickson, DuaneHill, KevinHoefel, KarlImray, TomInnes, MichaelJohnson, KarrieKaufman, AdinaKennedy, EdLamb, TraceyLambert, WillLangford, MikeLatour, MikeLauzis, AlfredLeBlanc, FredLee, JimLeslie, IanMacina, PaulMaidment, KeithMair, KevinManning, Paul EManson, MurrayMarjama, MildaMarks, ScottMathews, TravisMcCarthy, KevinMcEachern, DougMcFater, JohnMcIllmoyle, Tom

McKee, BillMcKinnon, NeilMclean, AndrewMcMannus, PatMorache, JimNearing, MichaelNeely, MichaelNester, JeffOgle, MichaelOlley, AdrianOsadca, TomPayne, DavidPeritore, GerlandoPett, AndrewPiperidis, DennisPowell, StephanRamagnano, FrankReid, KarenReynolds, NeilRobinson, JonathonRuller, NickSeifried, PaulSherwood, BrianSmith, RandySnellings, GordSt. Thomas, BrianStairs, PeterWalker, AlexanderWalker, AlfWalker, MichaelWalsh, DamienWeeks, TimWelch, BruceWerginz, MathiasWhite, DeanWilson, MarkWoodbury, JohnYoung, Tim

BY RICK BERENZ – GOVERNMENT RELATIONS COMMITTEE CHAIR, TPFFA, L3888

[ ]OUR LOBBY EFFORTS COUPLED WITH THE WILLING-NESS OF THIS GOVERNMENT TO COOPERATE AND LISTEN HAS AFFORDED US ENHANCED PRESUMP-TIVE CANCER LEGISLATION AND THE ABILITY TO IMPROVE OUR OMERS PENSION SUPPLEMENTS...

2007 DONOR LISTING

WE ALL NEED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE


3888 FIREPAC

listen has afforded us enhanced presumptive cancer legisla-

tion and the ability to improve our OMERS pension supple-

ments through collective bargaining.

Now that another majority term has been secured by the

Liberals, the OPFFA can aggressively pursue even more im-

provements, through legislative reform, to our future in this

province as Professional Fire Fighters. Rest assured that we

are working on new lobby initiatives that will benefit us all.

In the interim we are continuing to build strong relations

with those we assisted and at the same time trying to build

new relations with those not so familiar to us.

In order for this Local to continue this relationship building

process money is required. Money donated (union dues mon-

ey is NOT used) by our Members to Toronto FIREPAC may be

used in one of two principle ways.

The greater portion of the funds raised are used for politi-

cal action during election campaigns through direct campaign

contributions or by purchasing tickets to various political

fund raising events. Our attendance at these functions allows

Fire Fighter representatives to continue building relation-

ships with the various influential decision makers who are in

attendance.

GOLDAhola, PekkaAnderson, GregArcher, TimBarrington, MikeBaxter, DanBeames, PaulBills, MarkBlake, JohnClark, NormanCondran, CliffCossitt, DaveCullen, LiamDownes, MatthewDownes, RalphDyer, JohnEldon, RichardEllement, DarrellFalconer, DaveFitzsimmons, MarkFlemming, StewartGaudet, PaulGeekie, TimGraziano, JohnHaley, GregHarrison, ColinHickey, TonyJansen, CraigKnaggs, ChrisKreposter, AlexKrigos, JimLenard, JohnLoibl, RonLuty, TimManley, MarkMartin, NatalieMcCannell, RossMcCormack, DonMcCrae, IanMorgan, RickMotton, EricNorlock, BillO’Connell, DennisPace, HercPeck, DonPos, JeffPtasiuk, IgorRatushniak, AdrianRivard, RobertRobb, SteveRomard, RonRoynon, Dave

Sabino, AlSalvitori, DanSametz, GlenShapiera, KevinSheppard, JosephSinclair, MichaelSousa, GaryStark, GrahamStroud, RobertSwiderski, EdSwift, MichaelTurnbull, MikeVersace, PaulWalker, IvorWalker, Johnnie C.Watson, Alan RWelsh, JohnWoodroy, BradWright, JohnYacynuk, Steve

SILVERAlston, DanAltieri, RogerAtkinson, PaulAwender, KenBarnes, JonBarrett, DonBertram, DieterBigham, JeffBince, GlennBlack, Brian RBond, LanaBoyd, KerrBray, DonBrown, GordonBryan, SteveBuchmayer, StewartBuckley, BertramCarter, GrahamCater, RobertCharlebois, PaulCitter, RobClark, SteveCloer, StefanClose, KenColeman, DonColeman, JamesComolli, DanielleCompton, MarkCraig, MarkCrummey, Jim

Csepreghi, JanosCunningham, PaulDanks, JamesDavid, JeffDennison, CraigDennison, GarryDixon, TraciDorman, DaveDunbar, BruceEllery, DrewErwin, DougEvans, Mike AFairlie, RyanFalcioni, BillFlockhart, TomFogarty, BrianFoster, MarkFraser, DanGaboury, RichardGaland, TomGambier, SteveGigilo, RosarioGiles, NicholasGillespie, William GGraley, TrevorGutenburg, PeterHaggitt, MurrayHanley, JohnHarknett, PhillipHeggie, DuncanHennessy, PeterHewson, RobHudson, EricHurd, BryanInfuso, BarryIreland, ShawnIrvine, BrianIvins, DarrenJackson, KennethJakopcevic, GoranJessop, JohnJesty, BillJohnstone, DouglasJones, RonKelly, BrianKeogh, GaryKeogh, GlennKillen, ShaneKilpatrick, RonKing, MarkKralik, GeorgeKramer, Josh

[ ]THE GREATER PORTION OF THE FUNDS RAISED ARE USED FOR POLITICAL ACTION DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGNS THROUGH DIRECT CAMPAIGN CONTRI-BUTIONS OR BY PURCHASING TICKETS TO VARIOUS POLITICAL FUND RAISING EVENTS.

HELP EXTINGUISH THE FLAMES OF ALS!

The Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA) has partnered with the ALS Society of Ontario to present Golf 4 ALS.

ALS normally strikes two to three people per 100,000. For unknown reasons the incidence is higher among Ontario’s 10,500 full-time firefighters.

ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rapidly progressing and fatal neuromuscular diseaseaffecting close to 3,000 Canadians. There is no cure or effective treatment. Eighty per

cent of those affected die within two to five years of diagnosis.

You can help fight ALS by purchasing a golf card for only $24.95 + GST. You’ll receive one free round of golf for every five rounds you play at a participating course and be

entered in a draw to win a DREAM GOLF GETAWAY FOR TWO TO IRELAND!

To purchase a card, visit www.rcga.org/als or call 1-800-263-0009 and referencepromotional code 08alsopffa01.

Volunteers are needed to sell cards on 80 to 100 golf courses over the summer. If you’re interested in volunteering for the Par-3 Challenge, please contact

Karen Baldwin, Manager, Events for the ALS Society of Ontario, at 416-497-8545 x220 or [email protected].

For more information about Golf 4 ALS, visit www.alsont.ca.

“As firefighters, we have a special interest in ALS. I urge you to support this cause in honour of your fellow firefighters who have been stricken with this devastating disease.”

- Fred Leblanc, President of the OPFFA


Kular, TedKwiatkowski, PaulLaffey, NickL’Archeveque, Jean FrancLaRochelle, WayneLaw, GregLewandowski, MikeLi, HoiLokstein, ChrisLummiss, SteveMacDonald, RickMacken, MurrayMaitland, BillMandarano, AntonioManderla, AllanMarkham, DaleMatheson, PaulMcCarron, JoeMcDonald, KevinMcEachern, CamMcIntyre, BillMcLean, BillMechanno, JimMeredith, PhilMiles, Jeff

Missons, JohnMogford, SteveMorris, TerrenceMullin, DavidMyles, ScottNearing, JohnNeary, PeterNicoll, LawrenceNoakes, RobertOrrett, MarkPatterson, WaynePeckford, DonPeters, IanPlugowsky, JasonPoirier, JohnPole, BrentPowell, TraceyPrice, CraigQuibell, MikeRatushniak, BryanRonson, BrianRowland, MichaelRuth, RichardSabino, TomSalvatore, NunzioSanders, Robin

Shaw, KevinSheppard, BillSherwood, NeilSkerratt, TedSlobodian, JimSmith, KentSmith, StuartSorokos, TedSpeiran, IanStefan, SteveSteffler, GregSteffler, JonathanStewart, TerrySykes, StephenTewnion, GordonTinker, IanTrempe, LesTullett, NeilTustin, DomenicVanGoethem, JohnVanstone, BruceVeraeghe, TomVon Der Heide, SabinaWagner, JohnWallace, Tony

Secondly funds are required for the day to day operations

of the FIREPAC Committee. This covers items such as the

incentive packages given to FIREPAC Members, operation of

the web site, purchase of materials used at community events

in support of Fire Fighter friendly candidates, along with nu-

merous other miscellaneous expenses. All of these expendi-

tures are overseen by the Government Relations Committee

of your Executive Board.

The monetary contribution, from the Membership, is the

life blood of the FIREPAC Committee. Without your involve-

ment and contributions the FIREPAC Committee and Local

3888 would not be nearly as effective in insuring Fire Fighter

issues and concerns were properly understood by the political

decision makers—at all levels of government. By working to-

gether we can and have made a positive influence by having

access to those in power making political decisions that affect

your career as a Professional Fire Fighters.

[ ]WITHOUT YOUR INVOLVEMENT AND CONTRIBUTIONS THE FIREPAC COMMITTEE AND LOCAL 3888 WOULD NOT BE NEARLY AS EFFECTIVE IN INSURING FIRE FIGHTER ISSUES AND CONCERNS WERE PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD BY THE POLITICAL DECISION MAKERS...

We all need to contribute to the 3888 FIREPAC ... Continued from page 43

46

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Way, BrianWeir, BrentWhite, GregWright, SonnyZak, Jeff

BRONZEAnderson, AlAndrew, PeterAntonucci, MichaelAprile, SteveArcher, DaveBabcock, DougBader, PeterBailey, ScottBaldwin, AndrewBarben, RonBaricevic, NickBarry, RobertBeacock, LeeBertrand, LenBeveridge, NeilBishop, ScottBlack, Brian ABlake, BobBoyd, BillBradley, KevinBrown, LeeBurkitt, MichaelBurton, CameronCairns, MikeCameron, DavidCarter, DennisCarter, DougCasarin, TonyCassidy, MichaelCaswell, JeffChambers, BillChapman, KerryChatland, DaveCherun, DerrickClarke, DannyClazie, MichaelCodell, JasonCook, ThomasCulleton, ChristopherCzulinski, PeterDavidson, RobDawson, BruceDeAmicis, GinoDeBruyn, MikeDejong, Ken

Divalentin, RichardDoherty, KevinDooreleyers, JohnDowdell, AndrewDuff, DevonDzuba, PaulErwin, TrevorFilippidis, DannyFitzgerald, MikeFlindall, JohnFluge, GeraldFoley, William MFoote, DrewFowler, KennethFrebie, MarlaFulford, BobFyfe, BlakeGagnon, LeeGanguly, AndrewGeorge, ChrisGiannios, ChrisGibbs, GaryGloazzo, ClaudioGraves, ToddGreen, BruceGunns, RichardHannah, GlenHarms, ChrisHasson, MikeHauerbach, AndrewHayter, PatrickHorn, JeffJacklin, WilliamJanusas, AlJardine, RussellJohansen, GlenKalliokoski, JohnKassen, TomKelly, RyanKirk, AdamKitsco, JohnKozachenko, MorisKrolow, EdKrushelnicki, AaronKurmey, DaveLabuda, KrisLangill, ChuckLaw, IanLayman, ChrisLeeson, LarryLegge, MarkLeslie, Brett

Loukides, WilliamLow, BillMacAskill, JamesMacDonald, DonMacLachlan, TomMacRae, DougMacSween, AndrewMadden, MikeMaitland, JoelManderson, ScottMarr, JohnMasters, ScottMcNamara, RobMelvin, ChrisMillar, Bill JrMonday, GlenMorrey, JamesMuir, DerekNardi, SilvioNepotiuk, TerryNewbigging, JimNorris, GlennO’Dacre, TimPatel, KanjiPelayo, BernieRichardson, JeffRobinson, DaveRoss, GlenSafian, GeorgeSalb, MikeScallion, DonSilverthorn, JamesSinclair, NormSmalley, KevinSoares, MarioStaeuble, UrsStatkiewicz, MariuszStevens, TerryStraub, RickTrudeau, RyanVerlaan, JasonVoss, GrahamWalsh, DaveWarden, MattWatterson, AllenWeston, MarkWilliams, GlenWilson, GlenWittemeir, JurgenZanussi, CraigZelmer, SandyZicovitz, Carl

If you want to contribute to Toronto FIREPAC contact the

union office and ask for information on the various ways in

which you can contribute. You can donate all or part of a

union sub, Fire Department Employees Credit Union Mem-

bers can contribute through payroll check off, a lump sum

contribution by way of a personal cheque to TPFFA, etc. Call

416-466-1167 for all the details.

In summary, the continuing success and growth of Toronto

FIREPAC is only possible through your support. Successful

political involvement takes commitment, time, energy and

money but it continues to produce positive results for Fire

Fighters.

None of this is possible without the volunteer hours and

money that you have given. Thank you and let’s see how we

can grow for 2008!

[ ]THE CONTINUING SUCCESS AND GROWTH OF TO-RONTO FIREPAC IS ONLY POSSIBLE THROUGH YOUR SUPPORT. SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT TAKES COMMITMENT, TIME, ENERGY AND MONEY BUT IT CONTINUES TO PRODUCE POSITIVE RESULTS FOR FIRE FIGHTERS.

3888 FIREPAC

We all need to contribute to the 3888 FIREPAC ... Continued from page 45

48

August 2-3, 2008PortHope,Ontario

www.PortHopeEstival.ca1-888-767-8467

One Small Town, One BIGWeekendPort Hope’s most spectacular arts and cultural arts event ever!

One Small TownOne BIGWeekend

� Parade of Colour, Dance & Music

� 4 stages /over 30 performances

� 300 artists and artisans

� Special evening performances

� All-Northumberland breakfast

� Special event retail discounts

� Free street performances

� An amazing fashion event

� Children’s entertainment

� Contest, prizes & more!

Photo by Ted Amsden

present

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Arguments have been made that this is an infringement on a members’ civil liberties based on freedom of association. Our legal council does not agree. A member has a choice to be a member of Local 3888 or not, and if s/he does, they are required to meet the obligations of our constitution. Therefore, there is no infringement on who they can associate with. If they wish to work as a volunteer fire fighter the constitution does not say they cannot—it simply states that if they do they are subject to charges being filed, which may affect their membership within the IAFF; and we do have the right to determine who is a member within our organization.

The changes being contemplated to this article of the constitution at the upcoming convention make a lot of sense. In a jurisdiction that has no IAFF local, but has volunteer fire fighters, you would have to show that the existence of volunteer fire fighters is having an effect on the IAFF. This certainly has been the case and can be

ARTICLE IX—MISCONDUCT, TRIALS AND APPEALS

SECTION 2 - SECONDARY EMPLOYMENT

Any IAFF member found working a secondary job as a paid on-call fire fighter or an employee of a public employer, non-profit corporation, or a private

contracting firm providing fire protection or emergency medical services to a city, county, municipality, or a fire protection district as a volunteer, reserve, part-time, part paid, or public safety officer may be subject to charges being filed against that member.

Members have strong feelings regarding this issue, one way or the other, and this piece is not intended to fuel the debate, but it is intended to give some background on this article of the constitution and changes that are before the IAFF members at the 2008 Convention.

TWO HATTERS

and Secondary EmploymentFew items create as much disagreement amongst professional fire fighters as the secondary employment article of the IAFF constitution. This article is significant enough that it is repeated in our own constitution as follows:

BY SCOTT MARKS, PRESIDENT, LOCAL 3888

5050

Robert B. SalterC.C., O.Ont., F.R.S.C., M.D., M.S.(Tor), F.R.C.S.C., F.A.C.S.PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY

AND SENIOR SCIENTIST EMERITUS

416.813.6435Fax: 416.813.6846 Email: [email protected]

THE RESEARCH INSTITUTETHE HOSPITAL FOR SICK CHILDREN

555, UNIVERSITY AVE., TORONTO, ON CANADA M5G 1X8

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shown in a number of situations, but there are some communities which cannot sustain fulltime fire service and they need to be looked at differently. Fire fighters working as part-time EMS providers would be viewed in the same manner. You would have to show that these fire fighters were impacting an IAFF local.

Of greater concern are our IAFF members working as part-time fire fighters in other IAFF jurisdictions or IAFF members providing our services on a contract basis within communities serviced by IAFF locals. Members doing this will argue that they are not having a negative impact on those IAFF locals, but speaking to those locals will tell you a different story. Most of these locals face significant difficulties in getting their municipalities to make the increases required to their full-time contingents when IAFF members are readily available as part-timers.

Private companies providing specialties as Hazmat, confined space rescue etc. are impacting smaller locals in getting the training required for their members to provide this service.

How does this impact these fire fighters? Think of

yourself responding to a rescue with people around and how you would tell someone that you have to wait for a private company to respond. You would likely undertake the rescue and due to lack of training put yourself at risk. More importantly these are jobs that should be provided by these jurisdictions. If we accept that private companies can provide it in these smaller cities, what is the difference in Toronto. These firms are already knocking at the door.

Members that work in this capacity affect us all as full-time professionals. It weakens our position at the bargaining table when we discuss our hours of work and safety issues and proper remuneration.

We understand the need for some members to be involved in their communities, but there are other ways of doing it without affecting other IAFF members. This is a matter that is not prepared to go away anytime soon, but the position of the IAFF is one that is based on protecting our members in their jobs, their remuneration and their health and safety. The other side cannot make that claim.

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Two Hatters and Secondary Employment ... Continued from page 49

52

On Friday May 30, 2008, Local 3888 said goodbye and a job well done to sixty seven of our own who had re-tired during the past year. We also took time to recog-nize and remember a number of members who an-

swered their final alarm during the years 2007 and 2008. Vice-President Ed Kennedy and Fire Chief William Stewart, began the evening with some welcoming remarks and congrat-ulated all on their well deserved retirement. Retired Padre, Ron Nickle offered grace and then dinner was served to com-mence the event held at Q’ssis Place in the old City of Scarbor-ough.

I had the pleasure of serving as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening. Neil McKinnon the Entertainment Commit-tee Chair, committee members, Vice-President Kennedy and Fire Chief Stewart made presentations to the retiring mem-bers. Chair McKinnon remembers the occasion with mixed emotions: “I felt congratulations were in order. These guys deserve praise for their achievements and on their retire-ment. Also, it was kind of sad to see so many of my friends and colleagues leaving, I wish them all the best in their re-tirement years.”

The fire fighters being honoured served their community for many, many years. Their combined service totalled an as-tounding 2189 years of dedicated service. Ours is an occupa-tion pitted with stress and danger that comes with a great sense of serving the community. Many of those being recog-

nized were accompanied by family members who were wel-comed to this special occasion. I wished the family members a special thank-you, a thank-you for understanding when birthdays were missed, when Christmas holidays, and other special occasions were missed, and a special thank-you for en-during the stress we routinely bring home with us. In a very real way they have retired from the fire department as well. I conveyed to them that we consider them as a part of our ex-tended fire fighting family.

Vice President, Ed Kennedy and Fire Chief, Bill Stewart stand with retiree Keith Norris after being presented with some gifts.

Local 3888 RetireesLocal Local 3888 Retirees3888 Retirees3888Send Off toBY FRANK RAMAGNANO, LOCAL 3888 SECRETARY–TREASURER


Much knowledge and experience was gained during the years of service that these members worked on the job and thus will be missed. However, it is also encouraging knowing that, like all Fire Fighters, these older members would have taken great pains to pass along their knowledge and caring for the community and each other, to their younger brothers and sisters.

This was our 10th Local 3888 Retirement Dinner & Dance and we were pleased to have the Toronto Fire Service Pipes

FIRST NAME SURNAME YRS SERVICE

Paul Andrew 35

Colin Ash 30

David Baird 35

Robert Blake 32

Robert Bolitho 32

Dennis Buck 34

Delmer Calvert 36

William Campbell 34

John Crawford 30

Steven Croft 32

Jerry Degen 31

John Delory 31

Robert Evely 30

John Fabino 33

Richard Ferris 33

Bernard Gervais 36

Ronald Hampton 31

Bill Harcourt 33

Douglas Harris 33

Neil Harrison 31

Ronald Harvey 27

William Hawley 35

Paul Haynes 34

Raymond Hurlihey 38

Gregory Keele 31

Douglas Keeler 31

David Kelterborn 33

John Kemp 38

Eugene Ladoucer 32

John Lyons 33

Donald Marsden 30

David Martin 35

John Mayock 41

David McBrien 31

FIRST NAME SURNAME YRS SERVICE

John McCormick 29

Frank McCourt 33

John McIntosh 27

Douglas McKay 34

Wesley Moffatt 36

Thomas Mulholland 29

Keith Norris 32

Edward Paget 34

James Parton 29

Alexander Paterson 29

Robert Patterson 32

Paul Pritchard 32

James Reid 33

Stephen Roat 33

John Sehn 31

Norman Sinclair 33

James Small 36

Bruce Smith 34

Douglas Sullivan 37

Robert Sutton 33

Mark Thomson 26

William Voegtle 33

Ron Walders 35

Donald Wallace 33

William Wattie 34

Richard Webster 34

Ralph Wedekind 24

Ed Werenich 33

James Westwood 35

Michael Whitehouse 32

Noel Winders 31

Jeffrey Wood 33

Russell Wray 36

Farewell Retirees!

and Drums perform. They were exceptional as always and many of the retirees and their families asked me to pass their appreciation for their efforts and to extend their thank you to the membership for a respectful and well done send-off. We will miss our retiring members and do wish them a very long and healthy retirement.

You may see the pictures of this event on-line at the Local 3888 website and read some letters of thanks from the retirees and families under letters to the editor in this edition.

Local 3888 Retirees

54

The following picture was presented to the TFS at “Salute to the Emergency Service Personnel from the Highway of Heroes” May 29, 2008 at the Canadian Forces College

3888RECENT HAPPENINGS

TFS Awards and Promotions Ceremony May 13 & 15, 2008

June 23, 2008–4 Bicyclists riding across Canada to raise funds for cancer research assisted by a London Fire Captain Al Braatz (father of Kyle Braatz). Riders: Kyle Braatz, Alex Gray, Andrew Hopkins and Steve Coleman met at Queen’s Park by MPP and Solictor General, The Honourable Chris Bentley and retired Senator Marian Maloney. Toronto Fire Fighters: Frank Ramagnano, Rob Lethbridge, Janet Smith, Rob Tadeson. Local 3888 donated $5,000 on behalf of the ride.


3888 Lever Brothers employees at Don Roadway and Lakeshore are on strike and have not had a raise in 6 years.On June 25th, members of Local 3888 Executive prepared lunch and stood with our fellow Brothers and Sisters in their time of need.

New suppression recruits class was sworn in on April 11. Local 3888 was

given a full day with the recruits. The Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief

of Operations were present for a portion to do a joint presentation

with Local 3888 President.

Wayne Reidt’s retirement golf event.

Plaque Ceremony for John Chappelle April 18, 2008

and Gary Wilson April 14, 2008

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TORONTO, ON M9M 3A4

GROSSMAN S. TAVERN

379 SPADINA AVENUE

TORONTO, ON M5T 2G31

HIGH POINT ENVIRONMENT INC

251 BARTLEY DR, #3

TORONTO, ON M4A 2N7

HUGO BOSS CANADA INC

21 KODIAK CRES

NORTH YORK, ON M3J 3E5

JERRY CARTAGE JR

99 ADVANCE ROAD, TO THE BACK

ETOBICOKE, ON M9W 3Y2

LANCIA BROS

2 ST. JOHNS ROAD

BRAMPTON, ON L6P 0C6

MICHAEL LINDON DESIGNS LTD

123 EDWARD STREET, #1112

TORONTO, ON M5G 1E2

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BURN’S & ASSOCIATES

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HARPER MR. ZAID

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THE OLYMPIA TILE INTERNATIONAL

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SURVIVEFit to The fi re fi ghter’s guide to health and nutrition

Fit to Survive is your source for a healthier life, brought to you by the IAFF’s Fire Service Joint Labour Management Wellness/Fitness Initiative. You’ll find expert advice and practical information on staying fit and healthy, as well as recipes and nutrition tips to make your next firehouse meal wholesome and delicious. Articles reprinted in FireWatch have been taken from the IAFF’s Fit To Survive web site, which we encourage all members to visit regularly. It can be found at www.foodfit.com/iaff/.

Assessing Body CompositionUSING ANTHROPOMETRY Anthropometry refers to the measurement of the size and proportion of the human body, such as skeletal breaths, body segment lengths and cir-cumference measures. It is also used to describe both regional and total body composition in terms of fat mass and fat-free mass. Three popular an-thropometric methods used to identify individuals at risk of disease secondary to being overweight or obese are body mass index (BMI), waist cir-cumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR).

Although equations have been derived to estimate body composition from these measures, they also are population specific and are subject to substantial error if they are not applied appro-priately. These anthropometric measures are not widely used to actually estimate body composi-tion per se. They are more commonly used in epidemiological studies as a more crude index of obesity than other field methods and to assess risk of cardiovascular disease due to overweight or obesity. UNDERSTANDING BMI BMI is simply a product of weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. The relation-ship between BMI and cardiovascular disease was originally observed in the Framingham Heart Study. Associations were also established be-tween high BMI and hypertension, type II diabe-tes, and total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio.

Based on BMI, an individual is classified as normal weight (<25), overweight (25-29.9) or obese (>29.9). BMI is predicated on the assump-tion that a high value is the result of a preponder-ance of fat in relation to height. BMI does not factor a high index due to a preponderance of muscle mass, nor does it take into account that a low BMI could occur in an overweight individual due to excess loss of muscle mass—such as is common in geriatric populations.

Some research has demonstrated an increased risk of cardiovascular disease associated with a BMI of less than 18.5. Therefore, BMI does not provide any real insight regarding the regional distribution of body fat.

Regional fat distribution is described in two ways. Excess body fat in the abdominal region is referred to as android obesity, and is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It is for this reason that the regional distribution of body fat is important.

Excess fat distributed throughout the buttocks, hips and thighs is referred to as gynoid obesity and does not have the same increased association with cardiovascular disease as android obesity. So, while BMI does provide useful information regarding the characteristics of a population, it does have its weaknesses.

In large epidemiological studies, these weak-nesses might not be as significant. However, in special populations (such as fire fighters) where a significant portion of the population is athletic, it is likely that a good percentage of those individuals would have a high BMI when they may not be over fat at all. A study conducted on 109 male body builders found that the correlation between BMI and percent body fat was very weak—a vivid example of the limitations of the sole use BMI to assess relative risk due to overweight or obesity.

Measurement of waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio better distinguishes between gynoid and android obesity. Most individuals who carry excess fat do not typically have small waists. An international study, the International Day for the Evaluation of Abdominal Obesity (IDEA), of more than 170,000 people from across 63 countries showed that waist circumference is a stronger independent predictor of cardiovascular outcomes than BMI.

This data was presented at the American Col-lege of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session in March 2006. Other studies have revealed similar findings. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, waist circumference should not exceed 102cm (40 inches) for men or 88cm (35 inches) for women. The Expert Panel on the Iden-tification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults has provided a classification of disease risk based on both BMI and waist circumference.

INGREDIENTS 3 lbs. Spare ribs1 ½ cups ketchup1 tbsp. Prepared mustard1 ½cups water¾ cup vinegar3 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce3 tbsp. Brown sugar3 tsp. Chilli powder3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Cut spare ribs to desired size and place in open roasting pan or casserole dish. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over spare ribs and bake in 350F oven for 1 ¾ hours, basting at least 3 times. Serve with hot Minute Rice and a tangy salad. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serves 4.

The following recipe is from the Ottawa Firehouse Recipes & Stories. It is a fundraiser by the Ottawa Fire Fighters Community Foundation 2008. All monies received will go towards a permanent memorial to be built at Ottawa City Hall. You may purchase a book for $20 by contacting Foundation. www.offcf.ca, SUITE 101, 865 GLADSTONE AVE, OTTAWA, ONTARIO, K1R 7T4, (613) 567-2970, [email protected]

SPICEYBarbequed Spare Ribs


58

DATE* EVENT LOCATION

Friday, July 18, 2008, 1400 HRS Recruit Graduation TFS Fire Academy

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 Stewards Meeting 3888 Union Offi ce

August 10-15, 2008 IAFF Convention Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 1100 HRS Candian Fallen FF Memorial Ottawa, Ontario

Saturday, September 20, 2008 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial Colorado Springs, CA

September 16, Tuesday, Night meeting 1900 HRS 3888 General Union Meeting RCL Br. 527 948 Sheppard Ave. W.

September 17, Wednesday, Day meeting 1000 HRS 3888 General Union Meeting RCL Br. 527 948 Sheppard Ave. W.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008 Stewards Meeting 3888 Union offi ce

* DAT

ES A

ND T

IMES

SUB

JECT

TO

CHAN

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2008 UPCOMING EVENTSAu

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TORONTO FIREPACTORONTO FIREPAC

CONTACT US: [email protected] OR (416) 466-1167 ext 356

JOIN THE PAC!www.torontofirepac.ca

POLITICAL ACTIONWORKING TOGETHER TO MAKE US STRONGER

Thomas Deacond. Friday April 1st, 1898

In the later part of the 19th century, the former Town of Yorkville had grown from a sleepy suburb to a dynamic part of Toronto. On what were just farms a decade previ-ous, factories and businesses were sprout-ing up along Avenue Rd. and Davenport Rd. One of these commercial establishments was the George Hees Cloth Factory at 276-280 Davenport Rd. At 16:25 hours the TFD Alarm Office received a report of a fire in the 250 foot by 40 foot factory, the site of

previous fires. Crews from Yorkville were 1st-in and were met with heavy fire condi-tions being fed from a ruptured benzene tanks. With 23 Station not yet built, the men from #10 were all alone as they wait-ed for help from Yonge St. and College St.

As they stretched on the factory, the fire quickly outpaced them, spreading to a row of frame dwellings at 258 through 270 Davenport Rd. Just when it looked like things couldn1t get worse, they did. Sev-eral men from #10 Hose were advancing a large line up the side of the factory when a second benzene explosion occurred. The

entire west wall of the factory came down on the six men stretching the line. Other firemen rushed in to dig their brothers out from under the rubble. It was too late for one, though. Thomas Deacon died of his injuries at the scene. His was the second line of duty death to befall the men at Yor-kville. Thomas Everest had also been killed while operating out of their in 1890. Many of the men injured on Davenport Rd. that day James Jones, Daniel Bailey, Billy Beathe, John McCormack, and Sam McGowan had worked with Everest the day he died in a smokey basement at 2 Maitland St.

Dennis Noland. Sunday June 8th, 1902

The Toronto Fire Department had been ex-tremely lucky over the previous four years as they responded to hundreds of fires in that time without the aid of modern breath-ing apparatus or protective equipment. In that time not a single fireman had been lost since Thomas Deacon had been killed on Davenport Rd. in ‘98. As with all good luck, though, their’s was about to come to an end.

On March 15th, 1902 the Toronto Fire Alarm Office dispatched a first alarm for a building fire at Linden and Sherbourne Streets. Dennis Nolan was one of the fire-men dispatched. Crews were met with a working fire and the District Chief ordered lines advanced. Nolan, assigned to #3 Hose, raced to take the hydrant. While dragging the line, he tripped and struck his head on the ground. He was taken from the scene for medical aid where it was de-termined his condition was quite serious. His condition deteriorated over time until, on June 8th, he passed away at 5:45 P.M. in his home at 98 Front St. East. He left a widow and 3 children. Nolan had recently been transferred to Station 3 from #6 Hose, and was 33 years old. The official cause of death was listed as apoplexy.

BY JON LASIUK

SUMMER 2008 | FIRE WATCH 59

Rest in Peace

Th ey shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them.

Paul Kelly1955 - 2008

Terri Mullen1961 - 2008

In Loving Memory

60

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will not tolerate personal (non-code) harassment. Many employers take the position that it is better to set a very high standard and if the penalties for the con-duct are too severe then they let an arbi-trator decide on the reduction of that pen-alty. Many cities have implemented a “Zero Tolerance policy” for all types of ha-rassment. Previously, in many of these cases, the arbitrators ruled and assessed a lesser level of discipline than was out-lined in the “Zero Tolerance” policy. Now, however, a shift appears to be taking place where the “Zero Tolerance Policies” penalties are being upheld at arbitration.

Increasingly, panels, arbitrators and tri-bunals have been assessing greater mon-etary penalties to ensure that employers have a workplace free of Personal (non-code) Harassment. The recent changes to the Ontario Human Rights code clearly outline a significant increase in penalties for any breaches of the Code.

It’s important to clarify what personal harassment is exactly. Here are some ex-amples of personal harassment for your reference:• frequent angry shouting/yelling, blow-ups (often we get “this is just the way Harry is”)• regular use of profanity and abusive or violent language• physical, verbal and, or e-mail threats, intimidation• violent behaviours—slamming doors, throwing objects• targeting individual(s) in humiliating practical jokes• excluding, shunning, impeding, negative blogging, cyber-bullying• retaliation, bullying, sabotaging• unsubstantiated criticism, unreasonable demands• insults, name calling• communication that is demeaning, insulting, humiliating, mocking• public humiliation

Before speaking about personal non-code harassment and poor supervision we should begin with

a definition. The City of Toronto defines Personal (Non-code) harassment as:

“Personal (non-Code) harassment is harassment that is not related to a prohibited ground identified in the Ontario Human Rights Code. Personal (non-Code) harassment is improper comment and/or conduct, not related to a legitimate work purpose, directed at and offensive to another person or persons in the workplace and that the individual knows or ought to reason-ably know would offend, harm or is derogatory, demeaning or causes hu-miliation or embarrassment. Personal (non Code) harassment often involves a course or grouping of behaviours. However a single serious incident of such behaviour that has a lasting harmful effect on an employee may also constitute personal (non Code) harassment.”.

Until recently, many arbitrators and tri-bunals had taken the position that more than a single case of Personal (Non-code) Harassment must occur in the workplace before a finding and/or a discipline was determined. However, recent awards are indicating that single acts can lead to dis-cipline. In a recent example the govern-ment of Nunavut was fined $14,000 for failure to protect employees from person-al Harassment. In another case, “Work-place Gossip Nets Office Busybody Five-month Suspension” which involved CUPE vs. the Atlantic Health Services Corp. The penalties faced by many corpora-tions for employees conduct in the workplace are increasing. This shift in assessing punitive damages leads to the initial discipline of an employee being more severe as many cities

There are many examples that this oc-curs to individuals in the workplace. We are often asked how this conduct will be addressed in the workplace. In many in-stances, an employee is informed of a meeting with management and an inves-tigation is conducted (with union repre-sentation present). If during, or at the conclusion of the investigation it is found that a member has engaged in this type of conduct, the penalties vary depending on the City’s findings. Discipline has ranged from letters of apology to suspen-sions. If you have any questions regard-ing this list please contact a member of the committee.

Given the above list, it begs the ques-tion of what personal harassment isn’t. Examples are:• legitimate performance/probation management• appropriate exercise and delegation of managerial authority• operational directives• a disagreement or misunderstanding• conflict between co-workers• change of work location, co-workers, job assignment(s)• appropriate discipline• less than optimal management (poor management style)• a single comment or action unless it is serious and has a lasting harmful effect• rudeness unless it is extreme and repetitive

If a situation occurs in your workplace that you think may be grounds for Per-sonal (Non-code) Harassment we encour-age you to speak with a member of your Executive Board for further clarification and/or recourse. We have spent many hours discussing cases, their merit and their legitimacy under the Act. It is im-portant to maintain healthy workplaces free of harassment.

Harassment or Personal (Non-code) Harassment?

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BY HUGH DOHERTY, CHAIR, LOCAL 3888 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

62

BOOSTER JUICE ............................ 50

3 DISTRICT TOWING .................... 48

A.J. STONE COMPANY ................. 60

A1 FAST LUBE DRIVE CLEAN ........ 50

ALARMFORCE ............................... 12

APPLICANCE CANADA .................. 50

ARCTIC SPAS ................................... 6

BEAUTY CAFÉ ............................... 26

BIOPED ............................Inside Back

C.A.W. LOCAL 112 ........................ 50

CANCO HARDWOOD FLOOR. ...... 60

CANDACE PAUL R.E. REALTY EXECUTIVE ................................... 58

CARLOT CANADA ......................... 38

CARTRIDGE CITY ......................... 60

CENTRE HONDA ........................... 38

CITY PONTIAC BUICK CADILLAC ....................................... 4

DEN BOSCH & FINCHELEY .......... 38

DR ROBERT SALTER ....................... 50

SEATBELT SAFETY ........................ 12

ESTONIAN HOUSE CAFÉ .............. 62

EXECUTIVE REALTY SERVICES .... 24

EYES ON AVENUE OPTICAL ......... 46

GARY KENT GOLF ........................... 6

GEORGE BROWN COLLEGE ............ 8

GRAFIKOM .................................... 60

GREENWAY THERAPY CLINIC ...... 48

GTA TRUCK ................................... 34

HARDING FIRE PROTECTION ....... 60

HUDSON COLLEGE ....................... 60

INVESTORS GROUP ...................... 51

J & R CAR CARE ............................. 38

JACK M. STRAITMAN ................... 34

JIFFY LUBE ....................Outside Back

KEN WEINBERG ............................ 38

LA FEMME SALON ........................ 38

LIUNA TRAINING CENTRE LOCAL 183 .................................... 24

MAPLE TREE PRESS ........................ 6

MERKLE CAMERA ......................... 24

MORTGAGE CENTRE ...................... 7

N. CITY GEN. INS. BROKERS ........ 34

ONTARIO HYUNDAI ..................... 46

ONTARIO KITCHENS .................... 50

OWASCO VOLKSWAGEN ............... 46

RAM IRON & METAL ..................... 60

ROSE JEWELLERY .......................... 50

ROSEHAVEN HOMES .................... 24

ROYAL BANK ................................. 24

SEAGHER MEDICAL GROUP ......... 40

SHIBLEY RIGHTON LLP ................. 60

LIFESTYLE REAL ESTATE ............. 60

FIRE DEPT. CREDIT UNION ...................................................... Inside Front

THOMAS PONTIAC BUICK ........... 26

TORONTO DODGE CHRYSLER ...... 38

TUSHEENA FABRICATING ............ 34

WILLOWDALE SUBARU ................ 12

YONGE LAWRENCE TOYOTA ........ 40

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