First responders and other key service providers in the region say they have mutual aid or staffing contingency plans in place should the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 decimate their ranks.
This week, four regional fire departments — Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and Esquimalt — initiated a new regional fire response strategy that calls for the four members to supplement each other’s staff and equipment to meet regional firefighting needs, effectively expanding the staffing pool.
The mutual-aid agreement allows the departments to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries in responding to incidents that exceed local resources — such as a multiple-alarm fire.
“The current situation feels like a playing field that changes daily,” said Dan Atkinson, acting chief of the Victoria Fire Department. “This is a preemptive risk management plan that builds upon a framework of existing mutual aid agreements.”
The plan frees members of the group from having to incur overtime costs to cover shortfalls in personnel. It has no predetermined end date, but will be regularly reviewed.
While he did not go into specifics, Atkinson said Friday the plan had already been put to the test. “It worked as planned. It has shown its value,” he said.
At its peak this week, the Victoria Fire Department, which has a contingent of 100 firefighters, had 20 members off due to flu-like symptoms. The number of absences had dropped to 12 by Friday.
A normal complement per platoon or shift is 25 members, with a minimum of 17 staff on duty per shift. Firefighters typically work four consecutive 12-hour shifts, followed by four consecutive days off.
Other members of the group include Saanich, Victoria’s largest neighbour, with 123 firefighters. Like Victoria, Saanich runs 25 firefighters per platoon and has the same minimum number of staff on duty.
Oak Bay has 26 firefighters, with six members per platoon. Their minimum number of staff on duty per shift is five.
Esquimalt has 24 firefighters and employs six per platoon, with five members as the minimum staffing level.
“We are prepared to support each other should the need arise,” said Steve Serbic, chief of the Esquimalt Fire Department. “We want to assure the public that we are prepared and will not be closing.”
Meanwhile, B.C. Emergency Health Services, which has just over 4,000 paramedics and dispatchers in B.C. — including approximately 450 full-time and part-time paramedics, emergency medical call takers and dispatchers working in the 91原创 Island region — says it can redeploy staff and ambulances from other areas of the province to maintain emergency coverage should the need arise.
In the past week, between 41 and 69 paramedics and dispatchers have called in sick, BCEHS said. The numbers do not include rural stations, which use a different scheduling system.
B.C. Transit, with about 550 drivers in Greater Victoria, was already facing a labour shortage before the Omicron variant surface. While it doesn’t disclose numbers of drivers off due to vacations or illnesses, lack of drivers prompted the transit system to remove printed schedules from bus stops in December and move them online so it could make schedule changes on short notice. Printed schedules were returned to bus stops last week.
The drop in drivers has been mainly attributed to retirements and resignations, which have remained relatively consistent. However, recruitment has not been able to match the decline.
As an incentive, B.C. Transit is offering a $1,500 allowance to new applicants, with a paid, seven-week training program.
