THE BATTLEFORDS —The Battlefords hosted the Saskatchewan Association of Fire Chiefs conference held May 30 to June 1.
Attendees were offered a few different components including a trade show that featured dozens of vendors from all over Western Canada highlighting equipment, gear, fire apparatuses, other safety agencies, community-based organizations and displays. The trade show was located at NationsWEST Field House.
The main portion of the conference had 220 fire chiefs, deputy fire chiefs, and their spouses, attend the conference programming. The City of North Battleford said departments were represented from as far north as La Ronge and as far south as the U.S. border, as well as spanning east to west, covering all sides of the province.
Information sessions were presented on budgeting, which was noted as becoming increasingly difficult for fire departments in recent years, given the skyrocketing costs of apparatuses and equipment.
A session was presented on labour relations involving the fire protection legislation and protective services bylaws. There was also a session presented on media relations and communications practices as well as fire-related investigations.
Candace Toma, public and intergovernmental relations co-ordinator for the City of North Battleford said in addition there was “A round-table discussion from all conference delegates with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, and a keynote speech by renowned psychologist Dr. Jody Carrington, specifically aimed at addressing operational stress, organizational burnout and trauma-related triggers for first responders and their families.”
“Events like this are always a lot of work, but the city is fortunate to have exceptional facilities located at the Innovation Plex, which allowed for easy hosting in terms of requiring multiple venues in close proximity. The benefits of working with local businesses for catering, coffee breaks, is always that you have a very good relationship with those vendors and the service is excellent, because they care deeply about how their business or their product is presented to visitors to our community,” adds Toma.
The annual conference, hosted last year in Swift Current and next year in Kindersley for the 75th annual event, is rotated between departments across the province which have full-time fire department staff.
Toma concluded, “There were a lot of positive comments from attendees on the quality of the Innovation Plex venues and how safe transportation was provided to the delegates as a shuttle service, the quality of the food from our local caterers, those kinds of things. It is always a ‘win’ when you can show off the good things about your community through a firsthand experience.”
