City needs more fire-paramedic stations as population grows: outgoing WFPS boss

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Chief Christian Schmidt says the city will need to add fire paramedic stations to ensure rapid growth in new neighbourhoods doesn’t extend already lengthy emergency-response times.

In a wide-ranging interview leading up to his July 3 retirement, Schmidt said his department is exploring new stations needed to handle the population increase.

“Our city’s growing… and a lot of these areas where the new development is planned, we simply can’t service those areas with our existing fire paramedic station infrastructure or with the existing personnel. So there needs to be good plans in place … so that we can maintain good response times (and) also good unit availability for the existing parts of the city,” he said.

In 2020, WFPS approved a master plan that would move Station 19 in Silver Heights to the north, closer to CentrePort, among many other changes. The plan called for a reduction in the number of fire-paramedic halls from 30 to 23. It also called for a 24th station to be built in Waverley West.

Now the chief says WFPS will likely need four new stations — in south Transcona, the northeast McPhillips area, St. Norbert, and south Charleswood in the coming years.

“This is all new growth…. We’ll be bringing forward that plan to outline what should be done in order to service these new areas,” said Schmidt.

Without changes, the average time for the first emergency vehicle to arrive at a fire call in those new neighbourhoods would be expected to exceed 14 minutes, based on models, doubling a seven-minute national standard, he said.

Meanwhile, he said Winnipeg’s current average response time is already too high. In 90 per cent of cases, the first crew arrives at about 9:28 for the highest-priority fire calls, according to WFPS.

For ambulances, the current response time for 90 per cent of the highest-priority medical calls is 19:27, well above an 8:59 target.

Schmidt deemed that wait “simply too long.”

“We were having, far too often, situations where staff members were into their 10th and 11th hour without having their meal break yet. (That’s) simply not sustainable or acceptable.”

However, WFPS notes a firefighter paramedic response would be expected within 9:42 in 90 per cent of those cases.

WFPS is also helping the city plan roads and other infrastructure in new neighbourhoods to ensure quick emergency access and reduce fire risks. For example, the upcoming Water Tower District in St. Boniface will be Winnipeg’s first community to include a dedicated emergency services access road.

“This will be a road that is gated and (can only) be accessed by emergency response vehicle(s). It’ll allow us quick access into the heart of the community,” said Schmidt.

That district will also have sprinklers included in every residential building, since it won’t include any single-family homes where that protection is not required. And it will use a train-monitoring system that alerts emergency responders to pick other routes when rail crossings are blocked.

“In these new neighbourhoods, we’re working with the planning department up front to identify what the road networks need to look like in order for us to get ready access,” said Schmidt, who was appointed chief in 2021.

He has been with the WFPS for nearly 33 years.

Schmidt said the volume of emergency calls grew “exponentially” during his career.

“The city’s in a good spot as we move (on to) the next chief.”

He recently asked Shared Health to fund at least eight more ambulances and about 120 full-time paramedic positions over the next four years, along with three additional community paramedic units.

Schmidt said staff are currently stretched thin, with paramedics rushing from call to call. That led WFPS to begin entering lunch breaks into its dispatch system to ensure they happen.

“We work 12-hour shifts here… and we were having, far too often, situations where staff members were into their 10th and 11th hour without having their meal break yet. (That’s) simply not sustainable or acceptable,” he said.

The service hopes a WFPS wellness clinic at 180 King St., which will provide occupational, behavioural, physiotherapy and return-to-work services, will help staff on long-term leaves get back to their jobs.

“We have about 300 staff that are currently out of the workplace, between fire and (emergency medical services). They will come to the wellness clinic… all with an eye of getting them returned to the workplace and supporting them,” he said.

The clinic is expected to open next month.

When asked to reflect on his key accomplishments as chief, Schmidt said he was proud to help ensure Waverley West received a temporary modular fire station while it awaits a permanent one, and to finalize a contract for Shared Health to fund ambulance service.

He also believes the service’s workplace culture, including once-strained relations between firefighters and paramedics, has improved since he took on the role, though he stressed staff deserve much of the credit for that change.

“They’re a unified team. They go to bat for each other. They look out for each other. They care about each other…. The city’s in a good spot as we move (on to) the next chief,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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