Message From Fire Chief/General Manager
John McKearney

The men and women of the Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services (VF&RS) are committed to public safety through their expertise and readiness as all-hazard responders, life safety educators and life safety premise inspectors. Our Fire Fighters demonstrate professionalism, courage, and dedication to this calling, and we cherish and honour the privilege of serving our community as life safety practitioners.

Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services (VF&RS) continues to evolve as an excellent fire - rescue - medical service, men and women providing exemplary service to our citizens.

An example of this is the recent restructuring of the Vancouver Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) team, which opened the new USAR training building on May 4, 2011, located at our Training Academy.

This organisational change within VF&RS and the Vancouver USAR team embodies our commitment to operate as a citizen-first organisation and ensures that the City of Vancouver has a well trained, well equipped 24/7 initial response structural collapse team. This also provides the ability to call upon the full USAR team, which is comprised of members from several Vancouver city departments including Fire Rescue, Engineering, Police, Parks and our partner agency, the British Columbia Ambulance Services.

Each of these departments and agencies has responsibility for specific USAR core functions. The team members bring their experience and expertise acquired within their respective departments to comprise a strong, competent USAR team.

Another example of transformation within Vancouver Fire & Rescue Services (VF&RS) is the creation of "Cross-Over Medic Units". These are small 4-door pick-ups outfitted with emergency response equipment, which are stationed beside three (3) of our heavy ladder units (46'; 40 ton fire apparatus). In the event of a medical emergency, fire medic personnel transfer from the ladder truck onto the medic unit to respond, which provides a quicker more nimble response and saves wear and tear on our heavy fire fleet. This is also a more environmentally responsible and sustainable way to operate.

The Cross-Over Medic Unit program was conceived after the 2010 Olympic Games and the challenges VF&RS encountered with providing effective emergency responses. On the first evening of the Games, February 13, 2010 with crowds exceeding 100,000 people in the downtown core, we quickly realized that our heavy fire apparatus would not be able to effectively respond to emergencies. This motivated us to seek out smaller, quick response units for all medical emergencies during the 2010 Games. The inclusion of Cross-Over Medic Units into current operations has been a significant culture change and a further example of how Vancouver Fire Fighters lead other fire services with their innovation and strategic service transformation.

In closing, as the Fire Chief for the City of Vancouver, I am extremely proud of our fire fighters and staff who serve our citizens with distinction and the highest level care as Life Safety Practitioners through the city's twenty (20) community fire halls.

Sincerely,

John McKearney
Fire Chief / GM