“We’re not discouraging volunteers. The minimum requirements need to be met,” fire commissioner David Gellatly said in response to an allegation that district training policies were driving away local volunteers.

At the January 11 meeting of the fire district board of commissioners, staff and commissioners discussed an email from former firefighter and emergency medical technician (EMT) Gina Ball. Ball alleges that a lack of locally available responders and lines at the border “significantly delayed” the department’s response to a December 23 fire on Mill Road.

Ball, whose volunteer membership was terminated in October 2011 due to her inability to regularly attend training, encouraged commissioners to reconsider a requirement that all members participate in 60 percent of scheduled practices. The requirement was put in place in June 2011.

Captain John Shields said that the initial response to the December 23 fire was insufficient to fight it. Shields was on scene at 12:12 p.m., four minutes after the call was dispatched and was joined by only two other volunteers. He called the Delta Fire Department for backup  at 12:15 p.m., and their engine arrived within 15 minutes, going up the wrong side of the road on the 56th Street hill to circumvent the border lineup.

Chief Nick Kiniski said the response was consistent with other departments in the county. Damage to the structure was less than $10,000. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

“The whole intention of having that agreement with Delta is to have backup,”  Gellatly said. “Based on the response times we have here, it proves the systems we have in place work.”

Gellatly said the decision to terminate a volunteer was an operational issue and did not rest with commissioners, but he appreciated the need for consistent requirements.

Regarding the issue of whether the district is downplaying volunteers, Gellatly said, “In this case I think the person is qualified to meet standards but not our departmental protocols because they work out of the area and are often not here.”

In an October 11 letter Ball stated she was not likely to meet the requirements for attending practice, but maintained she receives adequate training as part of her job as a full-time firefighter and EMT with North Whatcom Fire and Rescue.

Kiniski explained that local training was critical to a consistent and unified response to an emergency. “Every department will do things a little differently. Members need to come to practice.”

Kiniski said they were working to create more local training options so the burden on local volunteers not working toward a career in firefighting would not be so heavy. “If we do more in-house training maybe we can get some more locals involved.”

Of the 35 current volunteers,10 lived in Point Roberts, Shield said. Kiniski said that the sleeper program, which has allowed more Canadians to join the department, had been very successful in improving the number of weekend responders. “During the week we can be short handed,” he said.

Gellatly commented that the recent fire’s low volunteer response was highly unusual. “We’re a volunteer department and depend on volunteers being available to respond to calls,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time we’ll have people and this was the one percent when we didn’t.”

Commissioner Bill Meursing congratulated Shields on handling the recent fire and stated he felt the letter from Ball was sour grapes. “In my book it’s a letter from a frustrated person who has something on her shoulder and can’t get rid of it,” he said.

Commissioners agreed that if the recent fire brought any issue to light it was the need to streamline crossing the border for volunteers and the Delta Fire Department. The topic will be discussed at the next meeting on February 8.