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Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs

Hoselines

October 2014

Dawson City was bustling with fire-fighters, suppliers, speakers and poli-ticians from August 20-24, 2014 as Yukon Fire Chiefs gathered for their annual symposium and trade show. It started Wednesday evening with Opening Ceremonies and a Memorial Service at the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre and was followed by a Wel-come Reception at the Klondike Insti-tute of Arts and Culture (KIAC). The overall theme of the event was the "The Challenge of Change".

Thursday was a day of sharing informa-tion, with Yukon Fire Marshal Dennis Berry presenting his annual report of what has been happening on the Yukon Fire Service scene and retired Prince Albert Fire Chief and writer, Les Kar-pluk, speaking on the Seven Guiding Principles of Leadership. Dennis Berry's report and Less Karpluk's pres-entation can be found on pages 18 & 20 in this newsletter.

After lunch on Thursday "Carbon Mon-oxide: Sources, Symptoms and Detec-tion Technology" was a hot topic. Jim Gignac explained how a family tragedy inspired him to help form the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation. This organization conducts effective Carbon Monoxide campaigns and distributes CO alarms across Canada. Pat Folliot from Kidde Canada also spoke about technology in their alarms and how they try to make their products as available as possible. He also accepted a cheque from the AYFC for $16,582.77 to pay for the many hundreds of CO/Smoke alarms our Association has distributed to rural

and First Nation communities through-out Yukon and Northern BC.

Thursday wrapped up with a fun golf tournament and a delicious barbecue sponsored by Dräger Canada and Nordique Fire Protection at the local golf course.

After a group breakfast on Friday morning, Warren McKewen spoke about Incident Command. Explanations of Thermal Imaging Cameras and how to use them wrapped up the morning presentations. The afternoon was dedi-cated to practical evolutions with the new Mobile Live Fire Training Unit again proving its practicality for the Yukon Fire Service.

On Friday evening Fort Garry Trucks and Nordique Fire Protection sponsored a well attended barbecue/fish fry/gold panning event at “Claim 33”. This en-joyable event was a big hit.

Saturday was a full day during which Spruce Grove, Alberta, Deputy Fire Chief Tim Vandenbrink, spoke persua-sively about the importance of fire pre-vention. Les Karpluk followed with an excellent presentation about how to "Be the Leader Through the Challenge of Change".

The Association of Yukon Fire Chief then held their Annual General Meeting which featured Kevin Lyslo being ac-claimed as our new Vice-President. Everyone seemed delighted that Kevin accepted the position. The rest of the executive is looking forward to working with him. The Vice- President's posi-tion became available because our long time Vice-President, Clive Sparks, has retired and moved to BC.

Tim Vandenbrink spoke about Fire Prevention

Dawson Hosts Yet Again Another Successful Fire Service Symposium and Trade Exhibition

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Mike Setterington, Golden Horn Volunteer Fire Department, received his 5 year plaque.

Charlie McLaren, Golden Horn Volunteer Fire Department, re-ceived his 20 year bar and his 20 year Exemplary Service Medal.

Kevin Lyslo, Whitehorse Fire Chief and AYFC Vice-President received his 20 year bar.

Ken Oppold, Whitehorse Fire Dept. received his 25 year bar.

Dayne Jones, Whitehorse Fire Dept. received his 5 year plaque.

Kevin Taylor, Deputy Fire Mar-shal, received his 25 year bar.

Dennis Berry, the Yukon Fire

Marshal (who paid for the banquet!).

The Honourable Brad Cathers, Minister of Community Services.

The Honourable Doug Phillips, Commissioner of Yukon.

Jim Regimbal, Dawson City Fire Chief and AYFC President

Bob Atkinson, Ibex Valley Vol-unteer Fire Chief and AYFC Sec-retary received his 20 year Exem-plary Service Medal.

Clive Sparks, Whitehorse Fire Dept. received his 45 year bar.

Congratulations to all the recipients of their well deserved awards and thank you to all of them for so many years of dedication!

In addition to the Long and Exem-plary Service Awards, a special plaque was presented to retired Whitehorse Fire Chief Clive Sparks to honour and thank him for his 45 years of service to the citizens of Whitehorse and Yukon.

The photo to the left here shows Commissioner Doug Phillips is shown here presenting Chief Sparks with his plaque on behalf of the As-sociation of Yukon Fire Chiefs.

Equally important, but not shown here, was the armful of beautiful flowers and the extended, standing ovation by everyone in the room for Kim Sparks for so many years of dedicated support of her husband Clive.

The official closing of the 2014 Confer-ence and the formal closing banquet took place at the Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture on Saturday evening. After the banquet of incredibly tasty

food catered by the Cheechako Bakeshop and a poignant keynote speech by Tim Vandenbrink; the Minister of Commu-nity Services the Honourable Brad Cath-ers; and Commissioner of Yukon the

Honourable Doug Phillips; presented Long Service and Exemplary Service awards to eight fire chiefs and firefight-ers. These, along with the presenters, are listed below and are shown left to right:

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Many Thanks to our After

Dinner Speakers

Dawson City Mayor Wayne Potoroka praised the award recipients, the Live Fire Training Facility; the firefighters’ dedica-tion and their “ I got your back” principle.

Klondike MLA Sandy Silver praised Clive Sparks for his many years of

service and for being an inspiration to those who know him.

Community Services Minister praised the Fire Services for their dedication and

reported on its many recent advancements in Yukon

Fire Marshal Dennis Berry said that the Fire Service is appreciated by all Yukon-ers and all government investment in the

Fire Service is well worth it.

Yukon Commissioner Doug Phillips, whose son is a firefighter in Vancouver,

emphasized that the Fire Service is highly trusted by the public.

Retired Fire Chief Clive Sparks explained that the upcoming Yukon wide 911 is being pushed through because it’s the

right thing to do and the right time.

Spruce Grove’s Deputy Fire Chief Tim Vandenbrink, our Keynote Speaker,

talked about accepting change and taking Fire Prevention into the future.

Fire Chief Jim Regimbal thanked firefighter families; all who helped with the symposium and Clive Sparks for his many years of ser-vice. He said: “Change has to be walked.”

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The Live Fire Training Centre was a very popular and much appreciated facility that was well utilized during the 22nd Annual AYF Fire Service Symposium and Trade Exhibition in Dawson City this year.

Firefighters have just wrapped up one training evolution and are deciding on the subsequent one.

Training facilitators are discussing the success of the recent training evolution and any changes required.

A Oldie but a Goody!

A Platoon Chief needed to use the pay phone, but didn’t have change for a dollar. He saw a probationary firefighter mopping the

floors, and asked him: “Hey, Rookie, do you have change for a dollar?” The firefighter replied: "Sure." The Platoon Chief gave him

an icy stare and said, “That’s no way to address a superior officer! Now let’s try it again. Firefighter, do you have change for a dol-

lar?” The young firefighter replied, “No, Sir!” and continued mopping.

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Camp Ember, sponsored by Fire Marshal's Office, was Yukon’s first female firefighting camp. It ran from August 11-15, 2014, at Yukon College and Golden Horn Fire Department’s training area.

This intensive, hands-on, fire service based camp was enthu-siastically attended by eleven women aged of 16 to 25. They were exposed to the fire service with the hope that some will consider a career in this male dominated field.

The camp was a great success!

Camp Ember

The Camp Ember, all female, Firefighting Cadets with Minister Elaine Taylor (standing third form the left)

The Camp Embers Operations Team

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Congratulations to “SHEPHERDS OF FIRE”, the crew from our Fire Marshal’s Office, who ran the Ucluelet Edge to Edge marathon in June! In the male relay team category they finished 8th out of 55 teams, completing the marathon in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 59 seconds at a pace of 4.59. It was a marathon filled with incredible scenery - crashing waves, beautiful views, beaches, and wildlife. The course wound its way through the seaside village of Ucluelet with a portion of the course running on the spectacu-lar Wild Pacific Trail. The trail was hard-packed and nicely graded with the most amazing views of the Pacific Ocean -- absolutely breathtaking! Left to right are: James Paterson, Kevin Taylor, Dennis Berry and Wayne Smyth. These guys walk their talk about fitness.

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Assembled April 27, 2014 in the new Whistle Bend subdivision of Whitehorse are students, trainers and auditors of the Pre-Trip & Emergency Vehicle Operator course. Left to right are: Jeff Boyd, Demien Meroni, Paul Gray, Ben Kinvig, Kiara Adams, War-ren Zakus, Kevin Taylor, Claire Desmaraise and Bob Melanson. The students are from Golden Horn and Mount Lorne.

Coaching the Emergency Vehicle Operator™ (CEVO)

The Fire Marshal’s Of-fice in keeping with teaching the skills to bring Yukon firefight-ers up to the required NFPA level, has been teaching a Pre-Trip & Emergency Vehicle Op- erator course through-out Yukon.

This course, which is also called Coaching the Emergency Vehicle Operator™ (CEVO), helps firefighters be-

come more comfort-able and confident con-trolling the fire truck.

The first day of this two day course entailed mostly theory work in the classroom.

The second day en-tailed, as required by NFPA 1002 Driver Op-erator, all hands on training, reviewing and coaching in a closed cone course including: Serpentine

Diminishing Lane

Confined space . turnaround

Alley Backing

Decision Making

Driving in traffic was also included,

The students and the instructors had fun as they found that inform-ation flows best when it flows back and forth between students and instructors.

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Yukon Fire Service Team Successfully competes in the 2014 Klondike Trail of ‘98 International Road Relay

The 2014 Yukon Fire Service Team

On September 5th &6th , 2014 the Yukon Fire Service competed in this exhilarating overnight relay with 155 other 10 member teams, by running about 17-1/2 hours through the Coast Mountains. They started in Skag-way, Alaska, followed the Klondike Highway past the Southern Lakes region to Whitehorse and finished along the Yukon River in Whitehorse. They followed the trail of the Gold Rush Stampeders over the famous White Pass. The Yukon Fire Service team members and their sections of the course were:

Leg 1 - Tim Sellars (Golden Horn VFD) - Race start time 2030 / Distance 14.0km Leg 2 - Dana Sellars - 2200/ (Civilian) Distance 9.0km Leg 3 - Kevin Taylor - 2300 / (FMO) Distance 12.5km Leg 4 - Jillian Dean - 0015 / (Civilian) Distance 21.0km Leg 5 - Ben Kinvig - 0245 / (Mount Lorne VFD) Distance 22.2km Leg 6 - James Paterson - 0445 / (FMO) Distance 25.6km Leg 7 - Wayne Smyth - 0715 / (FMO) Distance 14.0km Leg 8 - Kiara Adams - 0830 / (IBEX VALLEYVFD) Distance 19.8km Leg 9 - Stephanie Hedley - 1030 / (EMS/EMBER Graduate) Distance 17.6km Leg 10 - Shaun Cooke -1215 / (Mount Lorne VFD) Distance 19.3km

Support staff included: Mike Marcuson – FMO, Stacie Zaychuck – Mendenhall VFD and Warren Zakus – Ibex Valley VFD. The Yukon Fire Service team beat their sister team (Community Services) and placed 9th out of 27 in the Corporate Division and 56th overall. Physical fitness certainly has come a long way in the Yukon Fire Service. Well Done Team!

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Tagish VFD Gets New Fire Truck

Spirits were high on May 24 this year when Fire Marshal Berry, grin-ning from ear to ear, delivered the new Fort Garry fire fighting tender to the Tagish Fire Hall on a beauti-ful, warm, spring Saturday.

In the lower photo is Minster Brad Cathers flanked by Fire Marshal Berry and RCMP Constables Potter and Roulieu from Carcross on the left and the members of the Tagish Fire Department on the right.

The community made the event a festive occasion with a happy, we- coming, Tagish neighbourhood get together and barbecue. A good time was had by all.

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Tagish Fire Department Volunteer, Linda Heymen, is seen here giving out a combi-nation CO/smoke alarm and a house number to a resident during the May 24, 2014 festivities at the Tagish Fire Hall. She distributed 45 alarms that Saturday. The fire department later distributed the remaining alarms to local elders.

Tagish Fire Department distributes House Numbers for 911 Response and

Combination Carbon Monoxide/Smoke Alarms to the Community.

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In January Aboriginal Affairs & Northern Development Canada (AANDC) funded AYFC with $20,000 to deliver combina-tion carbon monox-ide/smoke alarms to the six First Nations in Yukon and ex-treme Northern BC who have not yet set-tled their land claim agreements and for whom, AANDC main-tains an active fidu-ciary responsibility. In addition, Yukon’s Fire Marshal added $2,000 to buy some alarms at the price that Kidde had ar-ranged with AYFC.

We ordered the alarms in the spring and received them in late July. During the month of August this year, AYFC Executive member, Ty-rone Larkin, who had the time and who having worked for AANDC for some seventeen years was familiar with the First Nation communities, drove throughout Yukon and ex-treme Northern BC, met with First Nation administrators and delivered hard wired and battery operated units to the Taku River Tlingit First Nation at Atlin, BC; the Ross River Dena Council; the Daylu Dena Council at Lower Post, BC; the Dease River First Nation at Good Hope Lake, BC; the Liard First Nation at Watson Lake, YT; and the White River First Nation at Beaver Creek, YT. All the adminis-trators were delighted to receive them and promised to install them quickly. Once the project was completed in and the remaining units were deliv-ered via AYFC President Jim Regimbal to the Fire Marshal during the Symposium in Dawson City in late August. Thanks to AANDC and the Yukon Fire Marshal there are some five hundred homes in the North where the occupants are now protected from death or poisoning by carbon monoxide or smoke. AYFC is ex-tremely grateful for all the funding and believes that it was money well spent

Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs Helps Protect First Nations from Carbon Monoxide

Combination Carbon Monoxide/ Smoke Alarms ready for distribution

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Destination Ottawa! -Submitted by Michael Crowe

Ottawa was the destination of choice this September for many Canadian fire service personnel. The second Sunday in September saw the 2014 Fallen Fire-fighter Ceremony held at the memo-rial, across from the War Museum, on Parliament Hill.

This year's honorary host, representing 80% of the fire service, was CVFSA—the Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Association .

The Canadian Fallen Firefighter Foun-dation (CFFF) Store opened at the

Sheraton Hotel, on Friday the 12th and the CVFSA hosted a hospitality suite that evening.

On Saturday morning the CVFSA AGM took place at the Delta Hotel. Their special guest speaker, Denis Lau-

zon, Fire Chief of Lac Mégantic, Québec spoke of the events that occurred in Lac Mégantic after the train derailment on July 6, 2013. He shared some photos that have not been seen before, and told about the fire and explo-sion that forever changed his town .

Saturday afternoon wit-nessed a rehearsal for

those who wished to march in Sunday's memorial parade.

Following that was a "Meet and Greet" in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings. This was open to all CFFF supporters and firefighters.

If all this wasn't enough, "2014 Fire-Rescue Canada" kicked off Sun-day. The Opening Ceremony for the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs was at the Westin Hotel.

This was a great opportunity to connect with members of the fire service, from across the country!

The scene was set for the 2014 Fallen Firefighters Ceremony across from the War Museum in Ottawa

The service was deeply touching and poignant.

The Canadian Fallen Firefighter Memorial

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TRAINING INFORMATION

from Deputy Fire Marshal Marcuson Updated 2014-09-24

Oct. 15–Nov 19. Fire Service Administration

This will be an online course and seats are limited. Fire Officer and Senior Fire Fighter Requirement

Oct. 24-26 Pre-Trip/Lock-Out Procedures and Emergency Vehicle Operator For all drivers! Must have valid Class 5 Licence and be 18 years of age or older

Coveralls are required for the Friday Pre-Trip Location – Ibex Valley or Hootalinqua TBD

Start Time – 19:00 hours on Friday. 09:00 hours on Saturday and Sunday Catering – Lunch will be provided 26th Apparatus from Golden Horn, Hootalinqua & Ibex Valley will be utilized

Nov. 2 Introduction to Hazardous Material Awareness

Pre-requisites – Fire Fighter Basic Location - Whitehorse FD – Station 2

Start Time – To be determined Catering – Lunch will be provided

Nov. 14–16 Pre-Trip / Lock-Out Procedures & Emergency Vehicle Operator

For all drivers! Must have valid Class 5 Licence and be 18 years of age or older Coveralls are required for the Friday Pre-Trip

Location – Golden Horn Start Time – 19:00 hours on Friday. 09:00 hours on Saturday and Sunday

Catering – Lunch will be provided Nov. 16th Apparatus from Golden Horn, Hootalinqua & Ibex Valley will be utilized

Nov. 20–23 Hazardous Material Operations

Pre-requisites – Fire Fighter Advanced and Hazmat Awareness Location - Golden Horn

Start Time – To be determined Catering – Lunch will be provided

Nov. 26 Infectious Disease Control- Blood Borne Pathogens–Oxygen Administration (IDC-BBP-O2)

A Minimum Requirement – For Everyone! Location: Whitehorse FD – Station 2

Start Time – 19:00 hours

Dec. 12-14 Rapid Intervention Team (RIT) Pre-requisites – Fire Fighter 1 and Fire Ground Survival (self-study online course)

2 Fire Ground Survival student manuals have been printed and sent to every Fire Hall. The online course can be found at http://www.iaff.org/et/lms/

Location: Golden Horn Start Time – 19:00 hourson Friday. 09:00 Hours on the Saturday & Sunday

Use the fire departments’ 4 X 4’s and Suburban’s to transport members to and from training.

FMO can assist Fire Departments with costs (travel and accommodations) for up to 2 members to attend courses.

Note: Locations and times are subject to change

Instructors/Evaluators can be arranged for other topics when required.

Contact FMO Deputy Fire Marshals Mike Marcuson or James Paterson to coordinate

Deputy Fire Marshal Mike Marcuson

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Yukon Firefighters Participate in the Mothers Day Run for Mum

Left to right are Donnovan Misener, Tom Sweetland, Ben Kinvig, Torry Weibe, and Deputy Fire Marshal James Paterson

James Paterson and Ben Kinvig finish off the “Run For Mom” on Mothers Day. Ben, a great teammate, ran the leg, took some of his gear off and came back

for James, the only firefighter running on air.

Five Yukon Firefighters participated in this year’ Mothers Day “Run for Mom” event to raise money for breast cancer re-search. Donnovan Misener, Tom Sweet-land, Ben Kinvig, Torry Weibe, and Dep-uty Fire Marshal James Paterson all ran in full turnout gear replacing only the heavy firefighter boots with lighter footwear. Some also ran using self contained breath-ing apparatus.

Paterson, when asked for his comment, explained that “Firefighters have to be tough to go through their training and to do their job, but what they go through can’t compare to what cancer victims and their families go through –those people are tough!”

James Paterson also ran in the September 14th Terry Fox Run held in Whitehorse along the Yukon River, in full turnout gear running on air. It took him thirty-four minutes including a stop to change air bottles at the Millennium Bridge. He used two sixty minute bottles, burning through the eighty-eight cubic feet of air in each bottle in about seventeen minutes. “That’s right though the low air alarm until the mask was suctioning my face” Paterson stated that although he typically runs five kilometres in twenty-four minutes at a heart rate of 130-135, he recorded burning 630 Calories with an average heart rate of 158 because the work de-mand on the body with the gear on while breathing from the air pack is tremendous! The members of the Fire Marshal’s Office are ob-viously “practising what they preach” as they en-courage Yukon firefighters to be medically and physically fit.

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Successful HazMat Medium Risk Incident Course

Takes Place at Golden Horn From May 24 to 29, 2014, about a dozen Yukon fire chiefs and firefighters gathered at Golden Horn to partici-pate in theoretical and hands on training in how to respond to and address medium risk hazardous materials inci-dents. The instructors from the BC Justice Institute stressed personal and team safety, using the Incident Com-mand System, planning the response to the incident and decontamination after the incident had been dealt with. Sufficient breathing apparatus and HazMat response suits were available to make response to the scenario of a Chlorine bottle leaking realistic. The students and the instructors interacted well, the lessons were learned and Yukon now has improved HazMat response to medium risk incidents. The following photos present a step by step perspective of the scenario used as a training example.

Trainers and Coordinators

Found it! A Chlorine bottle’s leaking!

Hmmm, What’s going on in there? Look! It’s down there!

The tool kit. I’ll go get the tools.

Let’s move this thing outside. This one should work. The chains.

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The Participants L to R Top Row are: Fire Chief Scott Maclean (Watson Lake), Platoon Chief Barry Blisner (Whitehorse FD), DFM James Paterson, DFM Kevin Taylor, Nick Carrol (Whitehorse FD), Platoon Chief Dave Dowie, Donnovan Misener (Airport and FMO), Brent Coxx (JIBC HazMat Instructor). Bottom Row: Perry Schnarr (JIBC HazMat Instructor), Chief Colin O’Neil (Mount Lorne), Tom Luxemberger (Airport FD), D/ Chief Joyia Chakungal (Mendenhall), Captain Rob Schnider (Marsh Lake), Tyler Triggs

You hold it, I’ll turn it. There, that should work.

Time for decontamination.

Let’s try it again. #$%^&#! It’s crooked.

I feel clean now. Got to do the head, too. There, that’s better.

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Name: Fire Chief Scott MacLean

Community: Watson Lake

Age: 37

From: Cape Breton

Background: Scott started with the East Bay Volunteer Fire Department in Cape Breton at the age of 19.

In 2006 he moved to Yukon with his wife, Jean, who is now principal of the Watson Lake Secon-dary School.

They live on their farm in Upper Liard just past the golf course. While serv-ing on the Upper Liard Volunteer Fire Department. He was hired as Fire Chief by the Town of Watson Lake in 2013.

In the summer of 2013 at Lakeland College in Vermillion, Alberta, Scott completed the three month NFPA 1001 course which he describes as "a good course, with good background and good hands-on."

Thoughts: He stated that “Watson Lake Vol. Fire Department was in “good shape” when I took it over .”

Plans: Scott plans to continue fol-lowing the Fire Marshal’s Office’s training curriculum to develop the Watson Lake Firefighters, and to develop a fire inspection plan and a formal prevention plan for his community.

Other: The Watson Lake Volunteer Fire Department is also the primary responder to upper Liard and Lower Post, BC.

It's great to have Scott as a member of the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs and we are looking forward to his contributions.

Meet the Fire Chief

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Fire Marshal Messages and Musings (from the Dawson Conference)

The Fire Marshal's Office is working to meet the challenge of change asso-ciated with Yukon Worker's Compen-sation Health and Safety Board's di-rective to improve the health and fit-ness of firefighters in the Yukon Fire Service.

The Government is looking at finaliz-ing the carbon monoxide regulations which will require a carbon monoxide detector in every home in Yukon. This initiative is important.

Dawson City fire department has al-ready blanketed the Klondike Valley with $13K worth of carbon monoxide alarms. Already one life being saved has been documented. I want to thank both the AYFC and the Dawson Fire-fighters Society for their leadership on this project.

Some changes since last year:

Capital

Gold Horn or has a new pumper truck and it is now in service.

Beaver Creek is having a new, $3.7 million dollar fire hall built, this will include space for EMS and SAR and is expected to be complete Oct 31.

Redesign of Carcross fire hall is un-derway. This building will include space for EMS and SAR. The design will be based on the Golden Horn.

A mini-pumper with CAFF systems will be placed in service with the Dawson City Fire department and will be used to aid responses to West Daw-son. The new truck is lighter and will be capable of crossing the ice bridge earlier and later than traditional fire trucks.

Aging SCBAs are being retired and replaced at the appropriate rate.

There are plans to ensure that thermal imaging cameras are in most fire trucks.

· CO calls are increasing as more Yukon residents have become aware of the dangers of CO.

· Multi-gas detectors will be available to the fire departments to aid in these calls.

· FMO now has a rapid response trailer which has a number of tools including a portable cascade system for SCBA refilling on scene.

· There are plans to put together a 15 KW generator set on a trailer that will deployable to the scene or to a fire hall during a power outage.

Operations

· Hazmat Technicians Course. The goal is to build a hazmat team acces-sible to all of Yukon.

· Building Collapse Technicians course will occur in the next year.

· Emergency Scene Management re-sponsibilities, mass casualties, etc.

· Camp Ember was the Fire Marshal's first attempt to plan for the future of the fire service in Yukon by expos-ing young women to the fire service with the hopes that there will be ru-ral and municipal candidates in the course next year.

Training

Training is critical. Please call us for assistance. “Without proper training we are by-standers in fancy outfits”.

There are increases in the number of firefighters and officers taking the leadership, strategy and tactics courses. Please keep this up.

Occupational Health and Safety regulations are a challenge but they must be met.

The Fire Marshal's office has pro-duced course modules to ensure that people can meet our training regula-tions within a timeframe that works for them.

The medical and fitness require-ments of the OHS are being ad-dressed

The FMO has contracted Dr. Bremer to certify firefighters as per the fit-ness levels.

Fitness exams will mirror training levels

Prevention

The FMO needs the fire records right away for the statistics program.

The Fire Marshal's Office is looking into the possibility of creating a Vol-unteer Fire Prevention Officer posi-tion in communities in an effort to ensure that prevention messaging is reaching the people who need it most. Some of the duties of the fire prevention officer would be to un-dertake activities that would lower fire exposure in the communities.

Mutual aid

Mutual aid and automatic aid is work-ing. Please keep reaching out to your brother and sister departments.

Every year the Fire Marshal asks for assistance from the Yukon Fire Ser-vice, either to sit at a fire scene, as-sist with investigations, or often to undertake investigations. We have never been turned down for such a request. I want to thank you all for your help in making the Yukon a safer place.

Fire Marshal Dennis Berry at the 2014 Symposium in

Dawson City

“WITHOUT PROPER TRAINING WE ARE BY-STANDERS IN FANCY OUTFITS.

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Stephen Gamble, President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), attended the Symposium in Dawson City in late August. He tries to attend as many yearly fire chiefs’ provin-cial and territorial gatherings as he can. Chief Gamble and his wife appreciated the warm Yukon hospitality they experienced in Dawson. He spoke to the fire chiefs gathered at the symposium, giving an overview of what’s hap-pening on the national scene.

Listed here are some of the high-lights of his presentation:

The CAFC is a not-for-profit

association.

The members of the board can

now only be elected.

All of the positions on the ex-

ecutive board are elected and

the members can ask for re-

view.

There is a president and five

directors. Elections are held in September.

Board members are encour-

aged to serve two year terms.

Fallen firefighter memorial

services are held in September

in Ottawa.

The volunteer tax credit is

working well now.

The CAFC is playing a part to

have a common wavelength

(700 MHz ) throughout North

America for emergency ser-

vices.

Quebec emergency services

would have benefited from a

common wavelength, espe-

cially for the seniors' home

fire and the Lac Mégantic rail

line disaster.

Because CAFC is a trusted ad-

visor to government, there's a

heavy demand on the direc-

tors’ time to advise Ottawa.

CAFC is working with govern-

ment on recommendations re-

garding rail transport.

The province of Quebec is

close to legislating sprinklers

in seniors complexes. Ontario

is also working on doing so.

BC is working on a Unified

Building Code for the whole

province but requires changes

in the National Building Code

before it will require residential

sprinklers in seniors complexes.

They're aiming for this code cy-

cle, or next, if not possible now.

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs President

provides a report to the Yukon Symposium

Stephen Gamble, CFO, MIFireE

A priest, a doctor and an engineer, were playing golf. The group be-fore them was so slow that they waited hours at each hole. Finally the priest asked around, why was that other group so slow?

He was told that they were coura-geous firemen who lost their sight when they saved the golf course from a terrible fire a couple of years ago. As a proof of appreciation they were given the right to play on the course whenever they wanted. They enjoy that a lot, but being blind they aren’t very good at hitting the ball, or finding it after it’s hit.

The priest said: “Oh my, this is ter-rible! Tonight I’ll pray for these courageous souls.”

The doctor heard that and said: “Don’t worry. I’ll send them to a friend of mine. He’s an ophthal-mologist and he works wonders.”

The engineer said: “Why can’t they just play at night?”

On the Lighter Side

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Notes from Les Karpluk’s Speaks to Yukon

Fire Chiefs about Leadership Karpluk shared with the symposium that LEADERSHIP IS A CRAFT that depends on SEVEN CONDITIONS: 

TRUST

 

The fire service is the most trusted profession in North America.

Trust as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of something or someone.  

 Without trust our leadership is an empty shell.

 Trust is very hard to earn and very easy to lose.

 Once trust is broken it can never be perfect again.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Not talking about a blame game. Accountability is an obligation or

willingness to except responsibility, to account for one's actions.

 "If you screw up - fess up.”  Wrong is wrong even if everyone is

doing it.  Right’s right even if no one’s doing it.

ATTITUDE

Attitude is a feeling or emotion to-wards a fact or state.

 A positive attitude is a key ingredi-ent of leadership.

 Attitude is everything - it makes the difference.

 The size of one's thinking is the measurement of success.

 The only way to do good work is to love what you do.

 "Stinkin' thinkin' " leads to the hard-ening of the attitudes.

 Positive change starts with you.  Attitude is what separates the win-

ners from the losers - the masters of their craft from those that go through the motions.

You are in complete control of your attitude.

 Positive attitude is essential to lead-ing with passion.

ADVERSITY

Adversity is a state, condition or instance of serious or continued adverse fortune.

 It always seems impossible until it's done.

 When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are chal-lenged to change ourselves.

 Difficult does not mean impossible. It just means you have to work hard.

 Be willing to draw on peer support.  Do not make rash decisions while

emotionally overwhelmed.  You grow your craft through adver-

sity.  Believe in your ability to survive

and you'll come out okay You control your thoughts, words

and actions.

DESIRE  

To exhibit or feel desire is the most necessary condition for leadership.

 What do I desire to improve today?  Why do I desire to become a leader?  What do I desire to accomplish as a

leader?  Am I willing to pay the price for my

desire to become leader?  Leadership is about your passion for

excellence and for making a differ-ence.

SELF-AWARENESS  

This is an awareness of one's own personality or individuality.

 The reality of a man is his thought. What he thinks he becomes.

 Who am I?  Am I ready to stand out against the

crowd?  Be yourself.

FORGIVENESS  

Forgiveness is when you can say thank you for that experience.

Forgive and move on and let go of the rope of anger

Les Karpluk

Chief Karpluk began his career in the Prince Albert Fire Department in 1982 and worked his way through the ranks until becoming the Fire Chief in 2006. In 2009 Les was given the hon-our and recognition by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs as the Full-Time Career Chief of the Year. This past February Chief Karpluk re-tired from the fire department with over three decades of service. Chief Les Karpluk (retired) has contributed to writing over 60 magazine articles and has spoken about fire service leadership at numerous conferences across Canada. Through his writing and blogging he strives to break-down leadership into manageable bite-size pieces and believes that we can learn when we work together.

Les is no stranger to post secondary education and is in avid life-long learner. He has certificates in Fire Ser-vice Leadership and Fire Service Ad-ministration from Dalhousie Univer-sity, Bachelor of Applied Business: Emergency Services from Lakeland College and numerous courses from other post secondary institutions.

Les has Chief Fire Officer designation and is a former chair of the CAFC Chief Fire Officer Council

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The Last Alarm

On September 13, 2014 Ross River Fire Chief Dave Windsor left us peacefully at the Whitehorse Hospi-tal. Dave had bravely fought cancer for the last 21 months.

His memorial service, which was held on October 1, 2014 at the Hope Centre in Ross River, was attended by family, friends, local fire fighters,

the Yukon Fire Marshal’s Office and the Executive of the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs.

Dave’s dedication to the fire depart-ment and his community were the main themes of the presentations at the service so sensitively led by pas-tor Tim Colwell. Dave was one of ours. We will miss him.

The Fire Chief’s Prayer

I am called to many duties Lord and now I've been called home. I've had to leave the ones I love to stand before your throne.

I'll not complain. It's not my way, but there are some things I'll ask. And please, Lord, grant them to me for the loved ones I hold fast. I dare to ask because I know how much you've blessed us in the past.

I've learned to trust in your grace, O Lord. That's how I've come this far. So now, O God, I humbly pray hear this Fire Chief's prayer.

Bless my wife and family -- so often left alone.

They knew where I was going and trusted you to bring me home.

Well, now I'm home and wait for them, keep them within the faith. So that one day, we'll be together in this place.

And O Dear God, bless my men, I trained them best I could. I tried to do your will with them and lead them as you would.

I need to know you’re with them Lord or else how can I stay And peacefully enjoy this place of end-less day?

This heaven where there is no night, no fire to kill and burn, I guess that's why its now my place of rest, my turn.

And Lord, be with my community and keep it safe as it can be, For all its folks are special, and very dear to me.

They are all my friends, and by your grace I served as best I could. So hear this Fire Chief's prayer, O Lord and grant it please --

I already knew you would.

David Windsor Dec. 22, 1958 — Sept. 13, 2014

At Dave Windsor’s me-morial service, his photo and fire chief’s uniform are shown respectfully honoured and flanked by Yukon Fire Marshal Dennis Berry; Deputy Fire Marshal Kevin Tay-lor; four of the young fire fighters that Dave recruited and trained; and Tyrone Larkin rep-resenting the Executive of the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs.

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MINUTES OF AYFC Aug. 23, 2014 AGM Dawson City, Yukon

Attendees:

Jim Regimbal Dan Nickason Clive Sparks Don McKnight Ken Oppold Charlie McLaren Tyrone Larkin Dave Welin Boyd Pyper Dave Guhl Bob Atkinson Rob Schneider Kevin Lyslo Scott MacLean Sebastion Nadeau

Call to Order at 1505 hrs

Adoption of Agenda: Moved by Dan Nickason Seconded by Jeff Stephenson Carried

Adoption of 2013 minutes: Moved by Rob Schneider Seconded by Dan Nickason Carried

Reports:

President: The Fire Prevention Act is being revised and FMO will update this at the January meeting 2015. Fur-ther information will be covered later in the agenda. Thanks to the rest of the executive for their help and spe-cially Clive Sparks.

Boyd Pyper moved to adopt the re-port. Seconded by Rob Schneider. Carried

Treasurer’s Report:

Moved to adopt by Jeff Stephenson. Seconded by Don McKnight Carried

Secretary: Update on the Yukon Fire Service Awards and Chiefs encour-aged to send in the list of their Fire-fighters with start dates so their ser-vice can be recognized.

Moved to adopt by Dan Nickason. Seconded by Jeff Stephenson Carried

Old Business:

1) Territory wide 911

YG has sent in the relevant material to CRTC for action.

The time line here is unknown but hopefully sooner than later.

2) Presumptive Cancer Legislation

This is now in place to include volun-teer firefighters and took effect in March 2014. The number of inci-dents attended does not affect cover-age.

3) Fire Chief’s Remuneration

It was proposed by Rick Smith to re-address this in 3 years but it is now 5 years. President Regimbal will con-tact him for a review of the current situation. Most seemed happy with the way things are now.

4) Special Resolution to Waive the audit for a Category “B” society

Moved by Dan Nickason Seconded by Rob Schneider. Carried

New Business:

1) Life Membership

Motion to nominate Clive Sparks for Life Membership in the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs by Bob Atkinson. Seconded by Jim Regimbal. Unanimously Carried

2) Next Seminar- when and where As no one volunteered right away it was decided that all should think it over and get back to the executive within 2 months

Election of Officers:

President:

Clive Sparks nominated Jim Regimbal. No other nominations were put forward. Acclaimed Vice-president: As Chief Sparks has retired we have to elect a new Vice-president Clive Sparks nominated Kevin Lyslo. No other nominations were put forward. Acclaimed Treasurer: Clive Sparks nominated Tyrone Larkin No other nominations were put forward. Acclaimed

Motion to Adjourn at 1550

Your Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs Executive

President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Jim Regimbal Kevin Lyslo Bob Atkinson Tyrone Larkin Dawson City VFD Whitehorse Fire Dept. Ibex Valley Retired

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Our Faithful Suppliers Who Attend Year After Year

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Some of Our Suppliers’ Business Cards

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Hoselines is published under the auspices of the Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs,

P.O. Box31353 Whitehorse, YT, Y1A5P7

Questions, ideas or comments are welcomed and encouraged by the Tyrone Larkin—Editor,

(867) 332-6788 tyronelarkin@northwestel.net

When your Treasurer and Hoselines edi-tor and publisher, Tyrone Larkin and his wife, Diane, travelled to Ireland this past summer, they were able to track down and visit dear, long time friend, Niall Sheridan - our Association’s first Fire Service Chaplain. Niall and his wife, Colette, are doing well and living in a classic, peaceful, beautiful rural setting just outside of Athlone, in the “Midlands” of the Emerald Isle.

In addition to breeding and cultivating bees for their honey, he is successfully studying for a Bachelor of Science in Toxicology - a four year course at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) where he also serves as the Mature Stu-dents Officer. He promotes full involve-ment of mature students in the academic & social life of the AIT community and works with the other Students' Union officers, clubs, societies and AIT as a whole to promote developing and inte-grating mature students in the college.

He also fills the roles in the Reformed Catholic Church of Archbishop for all

Ireland, Scotland, Wales & England, and Father Protector of European Communi-ties, officiating at marriages, celebrating Mass & caring for the flock.

Niall also supplies another much loved service in his area - he visits homes and social functions as Santa Claus during

the last six weeks of the year. During our visit in July he was already allowing his beard to grow longer, in preparation for Christmas. He makes a marvellous Santa Claus.

Niall is also a dedicated first responder for the group that supplies the local am-bulance in his area. He sends his best wishes to all the ambulance and fire-fighter first responders in Yukon.

When asked if we were the only visitors from Yukon, he replied: “No, you're the first visitors from the Yukon.”

Niall and Collette welcome all to come over and see them. 

Collette and Niall Sheridan Invite you to come visit them in Athlone, Ireland.

“Where Are They Now?”

The last five months have been busy for all the Yukon Fire Service but I have been travel-ling and missed a lot.

Thank you to those who suggested articles or submitted information.

To Dawson City VFD and their Fire Chief Jim

Regimbal - Well done on the 22nd Annual Symposium!

To the Yukon Fire Marshal’s Office - Well done on walking your fitness talk!

To my dear friend, Clive Sparks, happy retirement and let’s keep in touch.

To the late Dave Windsor - Good Bye and thanks for your dedicated service!

To my wife, Diane, thank you for invalu-able proofreading of my rough work! `

To all our dedicated fire service people, keep up the good work. “Work performed in the spirit of service is worship”!

It is my pleasure to produce this newslet-ter for you. I hope you like it.

Tyrone Larkin

Editor’s Corner