Fraser Valley – Body armour for firefighters is nothing new. Not every department uses them.
Sadly, it’s becoming more and more evident that those fighting fires must take extra precautions for their own safety.
At the Monday November 6 meeting of Mission Council, they unanimously approved $15,000 to purchase body armour for firefighters. MFRS Chief Mark Goddard addressed the need in a report: “Statistically the homeless population by and large is not a threat to responders. When considering the sheer number of interactions to incidents every year, assaults and violence are still rare but becoming more common, and Mission is not immune to this threat.” This also applied to overdose responses.
FVN reached out to other fire departments to see if they will follow suit.
The City of Abbotsford told FVN: When responding to calls in areas where known hazards or the potential for violence exists, Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service has a “wait for police” status. For areas where there are no known hazards, firefighters follow a strict hazard assessment process to ensure they protect themselves from hazardous situations.
The City of Chilliwack Fire Chief Ian Josephson told FVN: We are not considering body armour for our firefighters at this time. I’m not sure what the situation is like in Mission for them to make this decision. We’ll look into it and monitor our situation.
