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New Data from Fire Chiefs Puts Safety of Electric Vehicles, Housing, and Climate in Question

Fire Protection Ratings at Risk Across the Country without National Fire Administration

Today’s release of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs’ (CAFC) 2024 State of Fire and Emergency in Canada Report reveals new and disturbing data about fire safety in this country, highlighting glaring gaps in coordination, funding, policy and strained resources. The data shows Canada will not be ready for wildfire season 2025, nor for the convergence of events associated with rapid housing development, the potential of communities losing their fire protection rating, lithium-ion batteries, explosives and aging equipment.

“The CAFC Report highlights the critical need for a National Fire Administration which will correct the blind spot that federal policy makers have when it comes to policy from building codes to lithium-ion batteries, consumer fireworks and wildfire,” says Chief Ken McMullen, President, Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs. Fire chiefs from across Canada are now in Ottawa to present their findings to government officials.

Among the key findings in the Report:

• Lack of emergency resources to support housing development: 69% in urban centres reported significant new housing starts, yet only 17% (less than 1 in 5) have any new resources
• Almost half of communities at risk of downgraded fire protection rating: 46% of communities are at risk of downgraded fire protection ratings due in part to aging equipment.
• Wildfire readiness: 9 in 10 fire departments have some involvement in wildfire response in the past year, yet only half had the required equipment to meet the needs for wildfire season
• Only 18% have benefited from the federal funding of wildfire equipment to the provinces and territories.
• Aging equipment: 56% of fire departments have deferred essential equipment purchases up from 48% in 2022; close to 25% are using equipment that has surpassed industry standards by 10-20 years
  

The lack of equipment poses a threat not only to response capacity but to fire protection ratings which impact local insurance rates. This alongside new pressures from electric vehicle and other lithium-ion battery fires and disjointed explosives regulations. Canada had over 400 of each of these types of fires last year.

Further, in 2024 alone, the cost of four major emergency events in Canada reached $7.7B in insurance loss, exceeding the total budgets of all fire departments in Canada by nearly $2 billion. Fire departments responded to more than two million calls in 2024.

“We’re asking the federal government to lead a national reinvestment in fire and emergency preparedness equipment,” says Keri Martens, Vice President, CAFC and Fire Chief in Banff. “The return of a modernized Joint Emergency Prepared Program will create incentives for provinces, territories and local governments to secure an economy of effort on this crucial pursuit.”

Establish a National Fire Administration & Invest in Equipment & Training

Establishing a National Fire Administration could be one of the most consequential policy instruments in the history of fire and emergency management in Canada. The National Fire Administration, made up of fire chiefs from across the country, will allow Canada to recognize, address and coordinate on a regular, systematic and national basis, all fire and emergency management issues. “It will also provide a solution to coordination issues such as the ones that were identified in Jasper,” says McMullen who served as one of four incident commanders there this summer.

Ready to learn more?
Click here to read the Census findings

About CAFC

Founded in 1909, the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) is an independent, non-profit organization representing approximately 3,200 fire departments across Canada. CAFC’s mission is to promote the highest standard of public safety in an every-changing and increasingly complex world to ensure the protection of the public through leadership, advocacy, and active collaboration with key stakeholders. For more information: www.cafc.ca.

For more information:

Elissa Freeman for the CAFC

Cell: 416-565-5605

Email: elissafreeman@gmail.com