The Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association has joined the growing amount of firefighters calling for changes to the province’s fire fighting school.

More than 1700 people have signed the online petition to improve safety for trainees at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School.

The petition was created by the family of Skyler Blackie, who died after a fire extinguisher blew up in his face at the school. The school was later ordered to pay $102,000 as a result.

Joe Triff, vice-president of the union, said the union fully supports the family speaking out about the fire school.

If it wasn’t for Blackie’s family “screaming from the top of the mountain,” he said, then the public wouldn’t know a recent investigation found the school had 41 safety infractions, 22 of which were deemed high risk under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Earlier this week Truro fire chief Blois Currie voiced his support for the family and their petition and called on other fire service leaders to stop using the school.

School wants funding

In a social media post, the school said they want to make changes, but they need money from the government to do it.

He said it’s apparent the school needs more funding because it would be hard to run “an operation like they do with the skeleton crew that they have.”

“But waiting until there’s identified safety issues to call for additional funding seems late. We didn’t hear those same calls after the tragedy with Skyler.”

Other province systems

However, he thinks the fire schools in other provinces operate better, like in N.B, where the school is part of the New Brunswick Community College and funded by the provincial government.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Labour said the government holds non-profits to the same standards as any other workplace through the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

However, several government departments have jurisdiction over the fire school.

The Labour Department is responsible for overseeing worksites. The Advanced Education Department also oversees entry-level occupational training. And the Office of the Fire Marshall, a division of the Department of Municipal Affairs, is responsible for “developing policies, regulations and programs to promote and enforce principles and practices of fire safety,” the spokesperson said.

Triff said the Halifax Fire Department has reduced how often it uses the fire school but not totally eliminated it.

The Nova Scotia Firefighters School is the only place in the province where firefighters can get their level 1 certifications.

Triff said the Halifax Fire Deparment will hire people without their level 1 certifications and train them in-house, which means they can be trained on their equipment, rolling hoses and tarps, using ladders or breathing apparatuses. But to get certified with live burn scenario tactics and training, that would require the fire school, Triff said.

To get around this, the Halifax Fire Department often hires from outside the province, where fire fighters were able to get their level 1 certification at other schools.

“Ultimately we want to prevent another tragedy like Skylar’s, and we’re not confident that the Fire School is currently a place where we want our members to go for training.”