Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) News

Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) is providing the opportunity to Canadian fire departments to apply for $500 stipend, in order to help educate their communities about the benefits of residential fire sprinklers. Fire departments are welcome to combine projects, for example, use the $500 to buy a TV monitor, produce an educational pull-up banner, or boost Facebook posts. Other examples include: Build or refurbish a fire and sprinkler side-by-side burn demonstration. This may includ...

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ is honored to announce that Whistler Fire Chief John McKearney has been appointed as the President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC), effective immediately. He will serve the remainder of past CAFC President, Chief Ken Block’s term. Chief Block stepped down in order to accept the role of Fire Commissioner in the state of Victoria, Australia. “I’m honored to have been appointed by my colleagues and to serve in this...

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) invites organizations and its members to take part in the fall 2019 public review from October 22 to December 23, 2019. Purpose of the review The responsible standing committee will consider each comment in its recommendations on the proposed changes The purpose of the public review is to provide users of the model codes and stakeholders with a detailed look at the changes being considered and to seek comments as t...

The Metropolitan “Metro” Fire Chiefs Association, a Section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) held its 2019 annual conference in Edmonton, Alberta June 8-14. More than 110 Metro chiefs from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States attended the conference and elected the Association’s 2019-2020 officers and board members. The officers are: Chi...

A psychology researcher at the University of New Brunswick has received funding from the federal government for her research project focused on firefighters accessing care for trauma. Dr. Janine Olthuis, an assistant professor in psychology at UNB Fredericton, is one of 20 researchers from across Canada, who has received funding through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for projects relating to Post Traumatic Stress Injuries (PTSI) among public safety personnel, including law enforceme...

Metropolitan Fire Chiefs from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom participated in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Urban Fire Forum (UFF) at NFPA headquarters in Quincy, Mass. NFPA President and CEO Jim Pauley welcomed the chiefs and provided an overview of the association’s Fire and Life Safety Ecosystem, reinforcing the critical role urban fire chiefs play in ensuring safe communities. Special guests at the Forum included the President of the Canadian Associ...

“The Federal Government’s commitment to research can help to improve the fire service if the front line is appropriately engaged,” says the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs President and Edmonton Fire Chief, Ken Block. Representing the country’s 3500 fire departments, the Association had asked the Federal Government to support mental health resilience training in first responders; research to better inform building code changes, and preservation of the volunteer firef...

The Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs applauds the Honorable Minister of Public Safety and Honorable Minister of Defense for enabling the training of 25 first responders in the Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) Program, a program that assists in stress reduction and resilience building. “Research shows us that the rate of mental health issues among first responders is much more prevalent than in the general population,” says Fire Chief Ken Block, President of the Association. &ldquo...

Two firefighters were honoured with the title of Canadian Fire Chief of the Year at the CAFC conference Firefighters honoured at closing ceremonies of CAFC conference Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Fire and Emergency Services Chief Les Karpluk and Selkirk, Manitoba Fire Chief Dan Thorsteinson have been respectively named Full-time Career Fire Chief of the Year and Volunteer Fire Chief of the Year by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC). Both awards were announced la...

Canadian fire chiefs aim to limit children's access to lighters, matches Project aims to decrease fires caused by play or deliberate firesetting A pilot project to limit the access that children have to lighters and matches was announced today by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) at its annual conference in Winnipeg. The project is a joint initiative between CAFC, Health Canada and The Arson Prevention Program for Children (TAPP-C), a program developed at the...