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Changing of the Guard

When Rob Whitton took the job as assistant fire chief in Whistler more than a decade ago, he was looking for a place where he could make a difference and bring about change to the slow-to-change fire rescue service.

When Rob Whitton took the job as assistant fire chief in Whistler more than a decade ago, he was looking for a place where he could make a difference and bring about change to the slow-to-change fire rescue service.

On the eve of his retirement he can't help but feel a swell of pride in his department, which has grown from 16 firefighters to 21 and, more importantly, grown into a service to rival any of the best.

"The biggest thing I think I'm the most proud of is the department itself, and how much it has changed and how much it has become that professional service," says Whitton. "When I walk onto the fire ground and I see the crew doing what they've been trained to do, both the career staff and the paid-on-call staff, and the precision with which they do it with, I'm very proud of what we've been able to accomplish."

It wasn't always easy. Whitton brought the tough grit of his first job — an ironworker for a decade on jobs like BC Place and the Annacis Island Bridge — and an unapologetic ambition fostered during his years as a firefighter working his way up through the ranks to end up as chief of the Whistler Fire Rescue Service.

Shepherding change

Before Whistler, Whitton had been in the Abbotsford fire service for 15 years — the first two years as a paid-on-call firefighter, the last eight as union president. But he had no chance of moving up the ranks there; too many others with seniority ahead of him were first in line. It frustrated him, this stagnant system in which firefighters weren't rewarded for their hard work, or their commitment to education, rather it was their time on the job that counted.

For an organization that has to think quickly on its fee,t and adapt to fast-changing situations, it's very reticent to take on change, he said.

"I grew up into a system there where it was lock-step seniority, meaning everybody waited their turn to promote up to an officer, so you would have people being on a job for 18 to 20 years before they were even given the opportunity to move up. That seemed to be a standard through a lot of departments," said Whitton.

"What I wanted to do was to impart to a department and tell them, 'you know, it's not OK to just sit and wait your turn. You need to make yourself available, you need to make yourself a viable candidate for whenever the situation presents itself.'"

Whistler presented a perfect opportunity.

Here he found a small team of firefighters and, looming on the not-so-distant horizon, the biggest event in Whistler's history, the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Change was almost inevitable and it came fast and furious, with Whitton as its shepherd on the ground, under the watch of former Chief Bruce Hall. Whitton said it began with small things like insisting on common and consistent language on the fire ground and radio, it spread into things like uniform standardization, and there was a push to deal with the public in a consistent and professional manner given the fact that the fire service does nearly 900 fire and life-safety inspections within the community.

And then bigger changes came about, in part from the union. Firefighters were promoted to captains to bring some responsibility and accountability while on shifts.

"It's a big cultural shift; a very, very difficult cultural shift," he said.

"And there was some push back, and that was to be expected. I mean, the guys had a way of doing things for so long that making that change is difficult for them, understandably so."

Preparing for 2010 Games

But there was good reason to get moving on those changes. If Whistler was to be ready for 2010, the fire service needed to prepare.

Whitton devoted six years preparing for the 2010 Games. And everything, in the end, went as planned., though firefighters were able to maximize overtime, some working upwards of 100 hours per week over that period.

They were also specifically trained for things like an ammonia leak at the Whistler Sliding Centre venue — one of the largest storehouses of ammonia in North America with roughly 150,000 pounds of hazardous material used to cool the fastest track in the world.

Olympic organizers paid for the training and the equipment, including special HAZ-MAT suits, in the lead-up to the Games, but the fire service has had to maintain that within its current budget. And get creative.

"The unfortunate part... was (not) to get a legacy of payment," said Whitton. "Because every five years, whether you use the suit or not, you have to throw it away. It's no longer valid. And each one of those suits is a single use suit, use them once, throw it away, they're $900 a piece. So it costs money to provide the level of service that we do provide, but in the end it's money well spent in that we're able to deal with stuff in house and maybe mitigate things sooner than having to wait for an industry team to come out and deal with the incident."

To manage the increased costs, Whitton has put those HAZ-MAT suits into the service's budget rotation so that they can stagger payments over the years rather than getting hit with a big replacement bill every five years.

Ongoing concerns for the fire department

It's just one of the particular quirks of the Whistler department that the firefighters are trained and equipped to deal with a massive ammonia leak.

But there are other issues particular to this community that concern Whitton.

While he had made some headway on the FireSmart program, aimed at reducing wildfire risk that work needs to be a community focus going forward, especially in Whistler where there is no escaping the wildland/urban interface.

"It's a project that you have to stay on top of," he said, adding that the next stages need to be getting individual homeowners on board with the need to FireSmart their properties and protect the community.

"The other one that's a little bit more concerning is the illegal construction in town," said Whitton.

His frustration over this ongoing and widespread issue is evident.

When he first moved to Whistler, he was involved in dealing with a house in Brio with 86 beds.

Just a few months ago he began dealing with a duplex property with 19 beds — only eight are legal.

"It's rampant here; it's everywhere," he said. "And it's unfortunate because it detracts from the community.

"Just when you think you're making headway in one area, we find another."

He has no doubt, however, that he's leaving the department, and these ongoing troubles, in good hands — Sheila Kirkwood was appointed the new Fire Chief in November.

His future

Whitton and his wife will be moving to Nanaimo in the New Year to be closer to their two grown children, and five grandkids.

It's a new chapter of his life, one that the chief is excited to begin, though he admits he'll miss his life as a firefighter and the excitement. It's been 27 years after all. He's enjoyed every minute.

Even those early years, when he traded his ironworker's helmet, and a $25 per hour job, for his firefighters helmet and a drastic cut in pay to $11.22 per hour.

"It was a big hit with a young family," he said. "For the first couple of years I drove a concrete truck as well on my days off to augment the cash loss."

And he was never content to rest on his laurels.

He took over as chief in Whistler in 2006 after finishing a Masters of Arts degree in leadership and training from Royal Roads University.

"The fire service is one of those rare jobs where you're there for 25 years and most people don't leave their department," said Whitton. "There's very, very little movement. Quite honestly, what I would recommend for anybody is to move. It's still some of the same culture but more opportunities.

"We've got a 21-man department, not everyone is going to be a captain, not everyone is going to be a deputy chief, not everyone is going to be the chief. If you have those goals and aspirations most times you have to move to get them..." Normally you don't see it in the fire service very often primarily because if you've been here ten years and you go to move to Burnaby, you start as a rookie. You don't get credit for your ten years of service... They're all in the lock step seniority... That's a cultural shift and maybe that needs to happen within the overall fire service. Don't know that it every will. That's going to be a tough one for anyone to take on."



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