Mutual Aid

  Education

Minutes & Announcements

The Principles Of Operation Of A Mutual Fire Aid System In Ontario

What is  Mutual Aid?

Mutual Aid allows a participating fire department to request assistance from another fire department authorized to participate in a plan approved by the Fire Marshal. A fire department may ask for assistance under mutual aid if they are at a scene or if they have information that immediate assistance is required. Departments may also call on a simultaneous response from many departments in  mutual aid if distance and/or conditions dictate.

Generally, the requirements for participation in the mutual aid includes the following:

participating municipalities or agencies must own, or operate fire departments, adequate to meet their day to day fire protection obligations

fire departments must be established by by-law or agreement

fire chiefs of participating fire departments must be appointed by by-law or similar acceptable authorization

participating municipalities or agencies must pass by-laws or similar authorization permitting fire departments to leave their jurisdiction to participate in the mutual aid plan

responding fire departments must meet the requirements of the Occupational Health and Safety Act

fire departments have a first obligation to emergencies in their municipality or jurisdiction, a second obligation to mutual aid calls, and then to calls in areas covered by fire protection agreements

the fire chief or designate of the municipality or jurisdiction in which the emergency occurs, has responsibility for managing the emergency

the fire co-ordinator and the fire chiefs participating in the plan in consultation with the Office of the Fire Marshal shall assess suitability of participating fire departments

the mutual aid plan may stipulate that the departments provide or receive assistance through

additional or specialized vehicles and/or equipment

additional or specialized personnel

specialized advice and/or command assistance

fire departments must adhere to the accepted response, reporting and other provisions of the mutual aid plan

Historical Summary

A. General

The emergency fire service plans, formerly called mutual fire aid systems, now organized and functioning in the province were started under a program developed by the office if the fire marshal in 1951. These systems now include all counties, districts and regions Ontario including the municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. There are 47 systems in operation comprising 25 counties, 10 regional municipalities, 1 district municipality, 1 metropolitan municipality and 10 districts, including 2 cases of combined counties, districts or regional systems.

B. Emergency Fire Service Planning

In 1950, because of the development of mass destruction weapons, the Ontario civil defense committee decided that the scope of civil emergency preparations should be broadened and that civil defense should be organized at the county level of government. As a result of policy, the following general principles were evolved:

I. The development of plans whereby the existing apparatus and manpower of the municipal fire departments in the province could be utilized in the event of an emergency under adequate command and control procedures.

II. The development of programs to improve the operational capability of municipal fire departments and the effectiveness of their emergency fire prevention measures.

III. To ensure that any plans or programs so developed would have substantial benefits to the peacetime fire prevention and fire protection facilities of municipalities and at the same time be adequate in the event of any peacetime or war emergency.

Developing the Systems

A. General

In 1951, a program was developed by the office of the fire marshal to organize county mutual fire aid systems in Ontario. In order to proceed with the program, it was necessary to obtain the full cooperation of the municipal councils and their fire chiefs. To further these aims, a meeting of the fire chiefs from the major municipalities in the province was convened at which time the board principles in the province was convened at which time the board principles of the program were discussed and approved. I order to provide leadership in the field and to assist in the formation of the systems, a fire chief in the county or district was appoint district deputy fire marshal under the provisions of the fire marshal act to act as county or district fire coordinator with the formal written concurrence of his municipal council.

B. Training

Each year a district deputy fire marshal's (fire coordinators') conference is conducted by the office of the fire marshal. New developments in the emergency fire service (mutual fire aid program) and discussed as well as current problems of operations. In addition, exercises are conducted in mutual fire aid and emergency fire service operations. In some counties and region, fighters in the county or region are trained at one location.

C. Activation of Systems

Approximately 50 activation's are reported annually, in the opinion of many fire chiefs and municipal officials, mutual fire aid has prevented large-scale fires from becoming conflagrations.

Related Programs

A. Associations

The participating fire departments have formed county, district or regional mutual fire aid associations with membership open to the members of the fire departments and their municipal officials. The associations provide a forum for discussion on matters relating to mutual fire aid operations and generally for improving the administration and operation of member departments. From the discussions that take place, the municipal officials have an opportunity of becoming more familiar with fire service problems.

B. Fire Hose Thread Standardization

In service fire hose and allied fittings must comply with all provincial regulations.

C. County Fire S/W Radio Systems

In 1960, an emergency measures financial assistance program was established whereby the federal, provincial and municipal governments shared the cost - 30%, 15% and 55% respectively on purchase of S/W radio equipment for municipal fire departments under certain terms and conditions. A total of $66,000,000 of federal, provincial and municipal funds was assigned each year to this program. A county, district or region S/W radio system consists of a two-frequency base station located in the county, district or regional fire coordinator's department. All fire fighting apparatus in the count, district or region is equipped with two-frequency mobile sets, one frequency being a common county, district or region frequency, the other being the Fire Marshal's office frequency of 154.07 MHz.

D. Fire Alarm and dispatching service

In counties, districts and regions that are equipped with S/W radio communications, some county, district or regional fire coordinators have offered and are providing a fire alarm and dispatching service to participating municipalities. The service is not a requirement under the conditions for participation, but is provided with the consent of the municipalities concerned. The service consists of the fire alarm telephone number of the county, district or regional fire coordinator's fire department being used by the citizens of all municipalities in the county, district or region fire coordinator's fire department being used by the report, county, district or region control actuates the fire departments concerned by S/W radio and dispatchers them to the scene of the fire in their own community.

E. Fire Prevention Program

In some cases, county, district or region-wide fire prevention programs have been developed. These consist in the main of the pooling of the financial resources of the departments to make bulk purchases of fire prevention inspections. Such programs to endeavor to raise their standards of fire prevention to those of the other fire departments.

Conclusion

It would appear that reasonable progress has been mad in attaining the objective for emergency fire service planning. Fire departments are much better trained and organized to combat large-scale fires and their operational capabilities are somewhat improved in terms of fire fighting apparatus and S/W radio equipment. The continuance and possible expansion of the existing programs will, to a considerable degree, determine the future quality of fire prevention and fire suppression standards in Ontario.