<OT> To all New Zealand SxS members

[Ralph Sanford]

On Sat, 2003-08-23 at 07:00, Ted Ozolins wrote:
> Tom Marinis wrote:
> > Ted Ozolins wrote:
> > 
> >> Collins Richey wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>> The one thing we Americans and Canadians have in common, besides the
> >>> language, is the best politicians money can buy.  They all suck.
> >>>
> >> I just learned that the reason that we (here in B. C.) are short of 
> >> manpower to address these fires is that a Workers Compaensation ruling 
> >> requires that anyone fighting a forest fire must possess cirtification 
> >> by the Forestry. I've heard of all kinds of stupidity but this takes 
> >> the cake. I think its time for a class action suit against WCB. I can 
> >> not believe that a private organization none of which are elected 
> >> officials can pass laws. I thought that within the british-north 
> >> amercan act states that only elected officials can pass laws here. 
> >> Dang I better drop this.
> > 
> > 
> > I was just out of highschool, and was tree-planter/firefighter for the 
> > summer in and around the Penticton area in mid 1987.
> > 
> > The only WCB regs at that time were the requirements for
> > safety gear ( you know, gloves, brain bucket, boots,
> > cover alls ), a manditory 2 hr training course on how to fight
> > forest fires, and a single guy with Industrial First Aid for
> > crew of fire fighters.
> > 
> > Back then it was; for every 5 man firefighter crew, you had
> > to have a I.F.A. Level 1 ticket holder in the group.
> > 
> > If the crew was 20 or over, the I.F.A. guy had to be
> > LEVEL 3.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Now your saying the volunteers firefighters need Forestry
> > Certification ?  What the heck is that exactly?
> > 
> > Damn, things have changed a lot in BC since the mid 1990's. I never 
> > heard about this before, and I live here.
> 
> Yup, I live here as well and untill now was not aware of it iether. I 
> guess that is why the Canadian forces personel were stuck in Vernon 
> training camp for a while to obtain their training (and not just a 
> couple of hours) This whole thing sucks.

The Wildland Fire Fighter certification is pretty well the standard now
in Canada and the U.S.

My business partner has a separate venture where he converts surplus
military transport vehicles into wildland fire fighting equipment
(www.erefiresupprot.com).  He and all his operators needed to complete
the certification before he could enter into contract negotiations with
the fire fighting agencies.  The basic course was 2 or 3 days.  This
minimum standard is what allows firefighters to be shared by the various
provinces.  The minimum U.S. standard in the adjoining states is a one
week course.

The certification process does reduce the number of persons that could
be employed as firefighters.  BUT Canada and the U.S. are urbanized to
the point that vast majority of people have no idea how to properly
swing an axe, operate a chain saw, do not understand what kickback or
top fall means in lumber operations, can't sleep comfortably in the
forest, do not know which way to fall if caught in the drop path of a
water bomber, much less know how to effectively fight a fire.

Yeah it sucks but I am not convinced that the certification is really
the source of the problem.  p.s. did not B.C. have a law suit within the
last year or two where some bureaucrat passed a regulation concerning
"fitness standards" for forest fire fighters that effectively prohibited
women from fire fighting.

-- 
Ralph Sanford       -       If your government does not trust you,
rsanford at telusplanet.net   -   should you trust your government?

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