City councillors receive crash course in what it’s like to be fire operations from CFD

Calgary city council members joined firefighters Friday to get a crash course in what they do every day at Fire Ops 101.

Calgary city councillors had a chance to experience the range of emergency calls firefighters respond to every day when they participated in Fire Ops 101 Friday at the Fire Training Academy.

The event was held because, as the old saying goes, “show, don’t tell,” said a CFD spokesperson.

“We can go and talk to councillors about what our days look like, but having them here, to experience it with us really helps the conversation,” said Jaime Blayney, the president of the Calgary Firefighters Association.

“So when we do go talk to them about fire-related issues – budget, staffing – we’re (now) a city of almost two million people – we have 1,700 firefighters so having them here today experiencing what we do even in a small piece of it is super, super valuable," added Blayney.

In full protective gear, they used the jaws of life at a car crash, assisted in a medical emergency and battled a burning building.

“I’ve never felt heat like that in my life,” said Councillor Myke Atkinson. “You know, we’ve got this flash hood up. You’re completely sort of protected – but this is the thinnest part My ears and cheeks (were) feeling pretty on fire in there -- it was incredibly hot.”

Calgary firefighters respond to an average of 90,000 calls a year.