New Tecumseth would not have bypassed ATFD, Heydon

New Tecumseth Free Press Online November 23, 2010
Last week’s public outing of personnel issues inside the Adjala-Tosorontio Fire Department (ATFD) by the New Tecumseth Times, appears to indirectly stretch into New Tecumseth’s Fire Department.
Four part-time firefighters allege they have been terminated for raising safety and management issues in a confidential letter dated June 3, 2010 to Adjala-Tosorontio council. The allegations in the letter suggest decisions made by their chiefs put firefighters’ lives in jeopardy, and efforts to correct procedures fell on deaf ears.
A source familiar with the situation with ATFD, suggested the problems had reached a point that “the story was New Tec wouldn’t rely on help from Adj-Tos therefore would bypass calling Adj-Tos.”
The issue was whether New Tecumseth FD had confidence in the ability of the ATFD to not jeopardize the safety of their firefighters at a scene that required help from outside.
It’s a notion New Tecumseth Fire Chief Dan Heydon said would not have happened.
“New Tecumseth Fire does not by-pass any department when requesting additional fire services,” he wrote in an email reply for this story. “Requests for mutual aid are determined by the location of the incident with respect to the closest available fire service or a specific type of apparatus needed at the incident.”
“This year as an example we have called upon mutual aid in New Tecumseth on three occasions in different areas of the municipality: Hwy 9 – King Township, Caledon and Bradford; 3rd Line – Adjala-Tosorontio; and Hwy 89 – Innisfil. Coincidentally, so far this year we have not had mutual aid from the Township of Essa.”
Chief Heydon was not entirely hands-off in Adjala-Tosorontio, he added this afternoon, playing an active participant on two occasions during the process that led to the hiring of the Township’s first full-time fire chief.
“I was contacted and provided comments to the consultant hired by Adjala-Tosorontio to complete the study on the justification for a full-time Fire Chief. As well, other Chiefs in the area were contacted as part of this process including the Office of the Fire Marshal. (And) I was a member of the hiring board that completed the interviews and provided recommendation on the candidate for the recent hiring of the full-time Fire Chief.”
Last week, Wayne MacIsaac assumed his position as Adjala-Tosorontio’s first full-time fire chief. He replaces Paul Boissonneault who left the department for a full-time fire chief position in Brant County in June 2009. Since then, the department was led by interim chiefs. ATFD has stations in Everett, Loretto and Rosemont.