The Prince George Fire Rescue retirement ceremony in April at the Civic Centre - the first in four years due to the pandemic - saw 27 members gather to call it a career.
Those retirements put a dent in a firefighting suppression force that has 98 members.
“That’s nearly 30 people retired in four years so now we’re getting to a phase in our life cycle where the officers are younger and they’ve got five to 10 years left to put in,” said PGFR deputy chief Bryan Burleigh.
Firefighters are required at retire at age 60. To replace them with new members, the city keeps an eligibility list of candidates who have already met the required qualifications and passed the interview process. That list is usually kept two years, but Burleigh says most often the candidates on it are hired before that two years is up.
Because so many fire departments in other cities have older age demographics and are experiencing a slough of retirements, job opportunities in those cities are draining the pool of candidates and finding replacements for that eligibility list is becoming more of an issue in Prince George.
Just one of the 98 firefighters, out of a PGFR staff of 124, is female, and Burleigh is encouraging anybody, regardless of gender, to consider it as a career.
“We’d like to have diversity throughout,” said Burleigh. “But with the lack of interest provincewide it’s hard to find qualified candidates, never mind diversity, but we’re open to it. This is truly a competitive career and it’s the best of the best. So I’d be happy to hire a whole group of females, if they’re the best of the best.”
PGFR often draws new recruits with previous firefighting experience in volunteer fire departments or with the BC Wildfire Service.
The minimum requirements are outlined on the city website.
Burleigh said the physical test is more a test of endurance than it is a show of strength.
“Most people fail it on technicalities, they touch a handrail of fall over, things like that,” he said. “It’s a series of tasks all relevant to the job of firefighting.”
In Prince George, firefighters work two 10-hour day shifts followed by two 14-hour nightshifts,with four days off in between.The four-days-on, four-days-off shifts during an eight-day cycle vary from 68 to 76 to 96 hours over that eight-day period and that averages out to 42 hours per week.
Wages are comparable to the building trades. The starting wage is $36.07 per hour ($6,059 per month) and three-year members make close to $100,000 annually, with pay increases after 10 and 15 years.
