Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider

By Gates Guarin

‘Recruitment and retention’: new Cypress County fire chief prioritizes volunteer firefighters

Jun 23, 2022 | 4:07 PM

DUNMORE, AB – The newest member of the Cypress County emergency service is making sure word gets out about volunteer opportunities with the fire department.

Jason Linton, emergency services coordinator and fire chief for the region, says part of his new title is overseeing what is being done with bringing in new talent.

“It’s going to be focusing on training the volunteer firefighters, recruitment and retention of firefighters and preparing them for our busy season, which is our grassfire-wildfire fighting season,” Linton says.

Because these positions are primarily filled by volunteers, Linton says it is starting to become a province-wide concern.

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“This is not unique to Cypress County, this is a big discussion throughout rural Alberta,” says Linton. “Communities, as they’re aging and people are moving to more urban centres, [the question becomes] how are we going to manage fire service, fire responses, medical responses in the rural communities.”

Linton says active recruitment, social media posts and proper training are all part of his team’s initial strategic plan to bring in more talent to the emergency service.

“We want to be preventative on this, not be reactive on it,” adds Linton.

Linton says his team is also exploring the idea of a junior firefighter mentorship program as well, which would have young people job shadow active members of the fire service and participate in the same training.

This training has been beneficial to those already volunteering with the fire service. Murray Knutson has been a volunteer firefighter with the Dunmore fire service for four years, but has previously volunteered his time and services to the Jenner fire department for a decade before retiring and joining the Dunmore station.

Knutson says his day-to-day work has primarily been answering calls, but it has been an eye-opening experience so far.

“I enjoy every call,” Knutson says. “There’s lots to learn; I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”

“The training is very good. I enjoy [that] part of it. I also enjoy…all the experience and it’s been good for me.” Knutson adds.

With grassfire season looming, Knutson would like to see more volunteers give firefighting a shot, but understands it’s not always feasible.

“It’d be nice to have enough all the time, but that’s like I said, that’s just life and that’s what happens,” Knutson says.