Winnipeg firefighters sent to emergency calls usually handled by police: union
Posted February 27, 2019 7:20 am.
Last Updated February 27, 2019 7:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A shortage of police officers appears to be the reason why firefighters in Winnipeg are being sent to emergency calls that are usually handled by police, the president of the United Firefighters of Winnipeg said.
“Members of UFFW 867 are being sent to emergency calls that are not fire or EMS emergencies but police matters. It appears that this is due to an inadequate number of police officers available to respond,” Alex Forrest, the president of the union, said in a statement Wednesday.
Forrest said in one instance, two firefighters had to deal with a person armed with a gun.
In this case, Forrest said the firefighters were called to a hotel in downtown Winnipeg after an intoxicated person refused to leave the bar. The crew requested for police assistance but waited for more than two hours until two cadets arrived. There was a struggle between the intoxicated person and the cadets, at which time the firefighters jumped in to help. Forrest said the intoxicated person took out a firearm but was prevented from discharging it.
“These firefighters could well have been injured or killed in this incident, and it is clearly an incident that required police presence, not the presence of unarmed firefighters from the outset,” Forrest said.
The union president said this was one of many other examples in which firefighters are placed in dangerous situations they are not equipped to handle.
“UFFW 867 is concerned that its members, untrained and unequipped to deal with police matters, must not be put in harms way as a result of current dispatch protocol,” Forrest said.
The union has requested a meeting with Winnipeg’s police chief but so far, no meeting has taken place.
