Firefighters plead with mayor’s cabinet to bolster 2026 budget

Winnipeg firefighters and their union reps say they are at the breaking point and are snowed under by long work hours and a lack of resources owing to understaffing.

On Friday, a delegation told the mayor’s cabinet the 2026 preliminary budget — which allocates $262 million for the fire paramedic service in 2026, up $8 million from $254 million this year — doesn’t cut it. The executive policy committee held a session to hear public reaction to the preliminary budget.

Several Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service members who work in mental health advocacy and peer support, told council that pressure on firefighters is skyrocketing and the budget must include funding for more staff.

Capt. Scott Atchison was part of the crew who fought a St. Boniface house fire that killed two captains in 2007. He now oversees the service’s peer support group, which works with firefighters to access psychological care.

He told council that gaps in resources in the department that he witnessed after the deadly fire have exacerbated.

“We have an aging population, the fentanyl and methamphetamine epidemics, rising homelessness, historic increases in both structure fires and vacant building fires, are all converging at once,” he told the politicians.

“The demand has never been higher, and it continues to grow.”

Capt. Laura Duncan said firefighters have gone from 48-hour work weeks to putting in as many as 76 hours, in just a few years.

“What is the timeline for when that schedule starts to impact your family, your sleep, your self-care?” she said. “That’s a question that needs to be asked of every leader here today.”

The draft budget, released in November, includes a plan to create a “resource pool” of 10 firefighter positions that could be used to cover absences, to be established annually over the next four years.

At the community services committee meeting last week, a vote on whether to create a motion to add 10 additional firefighters to the resource pool yearly was split, resulting in the issue being tabled until next year’s budget talks.

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper called on council to amend the budget by adding spots for 40 additional firefighters, or accelerate the hiring of the resource pool positions at a cost of $300,000 to $400,000, to “re-allocate tomorrow’s overtime spending into staffing today.”

“Our department has exhausted every innovative outside-the-box solution, and we’re now recycling failed ideas by bringing back the resource pool,” he said. “The only solution never attempted is following the unanimous recommendation of every expert. Anything else guarantees the same outcome.”

The union formally issued a near-unanimous vote of non-confidence in the 2026 budget last week. Less than 10 per cent of staff who voted said they consider the WFPS a safe workplace.

“That’s not symbolic. That’s a workforce in crisis with no 911 to call,” Kasper said.

“They’re telling you they no longer believe council supports or understands the conditions they are being asked to work under, and that should concern every person at this table, because trust is the foundation of public safety.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca