BARRIE

Firefighter from Innisfil battles to volunteer

CTV Barrie

K.C. Colby CTVNews.ca Barrie Weather Anchor/Videographer

Published Wednesday, September 17, 2014 3:27PM EDT Last Updated Thursday, September 18, 2014 6:30PM EDT

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A fight between firefighters could affect how many volunteer firefighters we have in our local community.

Tom Hunse has been a firefighter for 26 years, the last 20 with the Toronto Fire Department. He lives in Innisfil and on his days off he also serves as a paid volunteer captain with the Innisfil Fire Department, something called ‘double hatting.’

Hunse belongs to the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA) which represents professional firefighters. The association says Hunse is breaking an oath he signed when he became a union member and that he must resign from his volunteer duties or risk being fired from his full-time job.

“The collective agreement says if the member is not in good standing he can’t be employed with the Toronto Fire Department,” says OPFFA President Carmen Santoro.

Santoro says 'double hatters', like Hunse, take away work from other firefighters and they could put other firefighters they work with at risk if they don’t get enough rest on their days off.

Hunse wears a pager for his Innsifil duties and says he turns it off at ten the night before he works in Toronto to make sure he has enough rest.

“I’m proud to be a Toronto fire fighter and I believe I serve them to the best of my ability.”

Most of the firefighters Hunse works with in Innisfil are volunteers and his chief says the department needs people like Hunse.

“Tom gives 26 years’ experience, he commands the station, he instructs and trains firefighters on what to do,” says Innisfil Fire Chief John Pegg.

Adjala-Tosorontio Fire Chief Wayne MacIsaac supports ‘double-hatters’ like Hunse, he says firefighters have a duty to help and by banning ‘double-hatting’ the OPFFA isn’t acting in a professional manner.

“To me whether you are a career or volunteer, you are a professional.”

Innisfil’s Mayor Barb Baguely feels OPFFA should be stripped of its power to ban career firefighters from doing what they’ve been trained to do on their time off.

“Ontario and Newfoundland are the only two provinces in Canada where this can happen so it’s a very easy; it’s a fix by the legislature of Ontario.”

Hunse says all he wants to do on his days off is serve his community and help train other firefighters and he has no plans to resign in Innisfil.

“I can’t give it up, I’ve taken it this far.”

The grievance filed by the OPFFA against Hunse is scheduled to go to arbitration in October.

Volunteer firefighters in our region

While Innisfil has a waiting list of people who want to join the volunteer fire department, that’s not the case with several other departments around our region. Here’s a look:

CALEDON