Many fire halls that do not have the call volume that would meet the need for a full-time firefighting hall were once staffed by volunteer firefighters; those are slowly closing down. More and more fire departments, like that of the town of Carstairs, have shifted towards a ‘paid on call’ (POC) method of operations.  

And as with the natural cycle of demand, the Carstairs Fire Department announced they are seeking new recruits for paid-on-call firefighters. Josh Van Arnam, a lieutenant in the Carstairs Fire Department and the officer for fire prevention is one of the hiring managers that will be looking over new recruits. 

“One of my sayings is that you want to have somebody that has the drive to run in when everybody else is running out,” he said. “It definitely has to be somebody that wants to learn because there's a lot to learn on how to become a firefighter. It's not just fighting fires; we do an awful lot of other things.” 

Van Arnam said that the Carstairs Fire Department shifted from volunteers to paid-on-call firefighters about six years ago. Van Arnam does not anticipate that Carstairs will be looking at turning into a full-time firefighting hall for quite some time, perhaps decades. 

“When I first joined, we were a volunteer hall, and we made $15 per training, and that was all that we got. It didn't matter if we went to big fires that we were there for eight hours, it was still $15 an hour,” he said. “A paid-on-call firefighter? As soon as the pager goes off, you respond to the hall and now you're making your wage for the entirety of that call.” 

Carstairs Fire Department currently staffs 30 dedicated well-trained individuals, and one full-time staff member, the Fire Chief, Jordan Schaffer. Van Arnam said that paid-on-call firefighters all have separate careers apart from firefighting, and this includes himself. 

 “I work in the agriculture industry and I'm the operations manager for a company here in Carstairs. I'm actually one of the lucky ones that I'm around town all the time,” Van Arnam said. “We have lots of members that work in Calgary or Airdrie, some work out in the oil patch but when they're home, they're on call with us.” 

According to Van Arnam, the recruitment process has evolved over time; years ago, anyone who came to a fire hall and wanted to be a firefighter would be more than likely accepted. Nowadays, the process is more selective. Regardless, firefighting is still very much like applying for any other job; there are resumes to be handed in and looked over as well as interviews.  

“A senior officer crew, there's three of us, will sit down and interview those people. Once we've said yay or nay to the people, the successful candidates would be invited to come and join a training,” he said. “Once they get through those couple steps, it's the meeting with the chief.” 

If a recruit is still ready and willing, they will then start attending training as a professional firefighter. While he did admit that there is the aspect of the daredevil that recruits may possess, Arnam says that can only take one so far. 

“It’s that type of person that is almost like a bull in a china shop. Sometimes there is that opportunity to be that person,” Van Arnam said. “But a lot of the time it's the caring individual that's going to outweigh somebody that's just a full-on adrenaline junkie.” 

Carstairs firefighters are seen training on the evening of March 2nd 2022 (Photo by Anna Ferensowicz)Carstairs firefighters are seen training on the evening of March 2nd, 2022 (Photo by Anna Ferensowicz)

Van Arnam who has served as a firefighter for over a decade, followed his family’s legacy, as his uncle was a firefighter, serving in Calgary. The bonds and friendships he has fostered over time have become one of the driving forces of his dedication to the community. However, he did say that being a paid-on-call firefighter has its own set of challenges. 

“The biggest thing for me is that I would love to go to every call, whenever the tones go off,” Van Arnam said. “You know, you’ve made dinner plans with your significant other, and you're just walking out the door, and the fire tones go off. You've got this obligation of ‘do I forego the fire department tonight or do I upset her and go on the fire call?”  

Carstairs paid-on-call firefighters have access to a mobile phone application which allows them to see how many firefighters are responding to a call, allowing them to make a better judgement call, or at least not renege or dinner plans. However, with the Carstairs Fire Department having responded to 281 calls last year, it may surprise some new recruits, fires do not make up the bulk of those calls.  

“Typically, if the house is fully involved [on fire], we're there for hours, but we go to the highway all the time for motor vehicle accidents. You'll see us fending off traffic for the ambulance and for police,” he said. “Being in Carstairs, we have an ambulance that’s stationed here but because we're this close to the city of Calgary, we rarely have an ambulance here.” 

The Carstairs Fire Department recruitment process opened March 1st and will close March 31st. 

And while those who succeed may have to juggle two careers, Van Arnam whole-heartedly believes it’s worth it. 

“Once I got in there, I learned about being a team member; I've got a great group of friends on the fire department and I do it to the community; that sense of helping your neighbours.” 

 

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