Country Canada Staffing Career & Volunteer EMS level BLS First Responder | Employees 489 (2016) Fire chief Doug Trussler | |
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Established 1754 (as Halifax Fire Service), 1996 (as Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency) | ||
Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Services provides fire protection, rescue and first responder assistance throughout Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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History
Halifax originated as a British fortification in 1749, followed by Dartmouth in 1750 and Sackville in 1751. The Halifax Fire Service is the oldest fire department in Canada (1754). It was first known as the Union Fire Club and then became the Union Engine Company (1768). The Dartmouth Fire Department was eventually formed on the east side of the harbour in 1861.
Nine fire fighters were killed in the Halifax Explosion, the most ever at a single event in Canada.
In 1996, with the creation of the newly amalgamated Halifax Regional Municipality, the Fire Service was consolidated through a merger of the fire departments of the cities of Halifax and Dartmouth, the town of Bedford and the many volunteer departments located throughout Halifax County. At that time, there were 515 career fire fighters and 1,200 volunteer firefighters from a total of 38 fire departments would become part of the new organization. This extremely diverse entity was brought together under Fire Chief Gary Greene and Deputy Chiefs Michael Eddy and William Mosher.
The department is currently led by Fire Chief Douglas Trussler, Deputies Brian Gray and Roy Hollett.
In 2011, a museum for the Fire Department was opened in Fall River, Nova Scotia named the Regional Firefighters Interpretation Centre. Their website is www.rficns.com (The provincial firefighter museum is in Yarmouth.) Since 2012, there is an Annual Firefighter Memorial Service on June 2.
The Fallen Firefighters monument is located at Station 4, 5830 Duffus Street, Halifax.
Operations
The service consists of a total of 51 stations, 489 career firefighters and civilian employees, over 600 volunteer firefighters, and is divided into 2 primary divisions:
In addition to regular urban and rural firefighting services, HRFE also provides Technical Rescue, Water and Ice Rescue, Hazardous Materials, and Medical First Responder services. Under the currently suspended Federal USAR Task Force program, HRFE had been designated as CAN TF-5, one of 5 USAR teams from across Canada. HRFE is also equipped and trained for CBRN response.
Statistics
Station closures
In 2013 Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Services approved the closure of Fire Stations 32 (Mooseland), 37 (Elderbank), 53 (Terrence Bay), 61 (Ketch Harbor) and 51 (Upper Hammonds Plains). These stations were Sub Stations of other Fire Stations in the area. As well, Station 62(Harrietsfield) suffered a fire in Jan 2015 that closed the station permanently. These areas are still protected fully by HRM Fire.
A new station will be constructed in 2016/2017 to replace stations 62 and 63, as well as relocating stations 8 and 9 to centralize them in areas of rapid growth.