By Carly Grossman and Rym Ghazal
Ottawa’s fire services should stop sweating the small stuff and get on with business.
It’s advice that Geoff Broadfoot, administrator of the Ottawa Police Association, thinks the fire department should listen to.
And he’s not alone.
Broadfoot can relate to the recent controversies within the newly amalgamated fire department.
After all, the police service went through a similar ordeal seven years ago.
In 1995, the Gloucester, Nepean and Ottawa police services merged, forming the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Police Service.
The new police service also took over rural policing duties from the Ontario Provincial Police, placing all neighbouring municipalities under one jurisdiction.
But all that is history.
These days, it’s the merger of Ottawa’s fractious fire department that is making front-page headlines.
As part of the new mega-city plan of January 2001, all nine rural and urban fire departments were amalgamated carving the service down to five departments that operate from 43 stations around Ottawa.
It has not become one big happy family.
The list of problems include: tales of rivalry, stress in the workplace, low morale, disappearing deputies, fights over old trucks that break down, and new ones that sit idly in Stittsville.
But as Broadfoot and others say, all this angst is to be expected.
“We reached our first collective agreement in late ’96, early ’97,” recalls Broadfoot. “So for two years the former Gloucester, Ottawa and Nepean members still operated as separate entities.”
The administrator also says that some in the police department never accepted the change.
“There was resistance initially, especially from Nepean,” says Broadfoot. “Nepean (Police) Chief Wayne Phillips was made a deputy chief under Ottawa, and he never even showed up to work. He absolutely refused to come. Finally, he just resigned.”
That incident resembles the most recent spat between fire chief Rick Larabie and deputy chief Tom Blondin.
Their much-publicized feud was supposedly over fire trucks.
Neither Larabie nor Blondin would comment.
And Blondin’s lawyer, Janice Payne says she won’t comment about her client’s suit against the city.
But Randy Mar says this sort of conflict is just another symptom of amalgamation.
Mar, acting director of corporate planning for police, explains that the police service also hit some bumps along the way.
“Not everyone went in saying ‘Hey, this is great stuff,’” recalls Mar. “There has always been a lot of pride and competitiveness within the police service — some friendly competition. But it’s hard when you bring it all together, to show loyalty and support to a new service.”
And as Mar says, “sometimes that new service is very different from the one you left.”
He lists differences in size, culture and technology as factors that can hinder the process of amalgamation.
“When police amalgamated, we had three different handguns,” explains Mar. “This was a major concern for officer training. It is just like the fire department with their different self-contained breathing apparatuses.
“When you’re fighting fires you don’t want to be uncomfortable.”
Dave Stephenson, president of the Ottawa Firefighter’s Association, says new breathing apparatuses have been purchased, but the fire department faces another problem.
“We still have no visual identity,” says Stephenson. “Our uniforms still differ. We wear a Nepean uniform in Nepean and an Ottawa uniform in Ottawa. Even the stations aren’t numbered yet. That doesn’t tell me that we’ve amalgamated yet and it doesn’t tell the firefighters that we’ve amalgamated yet.”
But Coun. Diane Deans, who chairs the single city’s emergency and protective services committee, doesn’t think these differences are worth fighting over.
“I think that there are growing pains when there is a transition. I think that some people are adverse to change just naturally— we are all creatures of habit to a certain extent, and change can be disruptive.
“The fire department is transitioning to better serve the public and that’s not chaos-that’s progress.”
So when will the Ottawa Fire Services family feud settle down?
It won’t be anytime soon.
Wendy Fedec, executive director of the Ottawa Police Services Board, estimates it takes as long as a generation or “10 to 20 years before the cultures are fully merged.”
Until then, are there any words of wisdom the police can give to the fire department, any remedy to soothe those “growing pains?”
Broadfoot says people have to talk to each other, especially the chief and his staff.
“Communication is key,” says Broadfoot. “Just tell them what you’re planning, where you’re headed and keep them informed.”
One more piece of advice.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” he says. “They are going to have to get over their petty jealousies and get on with business.”