By Tyler Waugh, The Irish Loop Post/Local Journalism Initiative
The Witless Bay Volunteer Fire Department has worked with NL Health Services and NL 911 to implement a new 'triage' style response system aimed to take the load off the volunteer team of firefighters.
Fire Chief Jack Gatherall told council at its July 22 public meeting the department responded to 107 calls between January 1 and June 30 and while that is still a busy stretch, it's actually a big drop from previous years in part due to this new system.
"For serious, life-threatening medical emergencies where every second counts, our trucks and crews are still out the door immediately,” Gatherall said. “Following this new criteria actually helps get the department turned out and responding faster to higher priority medical calls. For lower priority medical calls, where the fire truck isn't actually needed, we now stand by. This saves our volunteers from unnecessary late night wake up calls and runaround for lower acuity calls. This helps cut down on volunteer burnout and the retention of membership."
Gatherall said the membership is reporting a 'huge' boost in morale as a result.
He said the system also better ensures that department resources are where they need to be.
"The department in 2025 had multiple instances for as many as three calls at the same time, in which responders had to pull away resources from a serious incident such as a fire or car accident, to respond to a medical emergency, which really didn't require a fire department level of response,” Gatherall said. “This adjustment in protocol is normal and is followed by most larger departments."
He told council the department recently focused on extricating victims from vehicles during two weeks of training. Gatherall said extraction scenarios vary from wheels on ground, to vehicles on their side and resting on their roofs, to wrecks with blocked access or heavy physical obstacles, as well as those rolled into a ditch and wedged in tight.
"This course is all about giving our membership hands-on skills that they need to safely respond on vehicle accidents, to make the training as realistic as possible," Gatherall said, noting 10 vehicles had been secured for the training. "It's tough, heavy work. But these are the exact skills that save lives when the seconds count. A huge shout out to our members for putting in the hours to keep up the rescue skills."
The department did lose two members in June, including one of the four new women recruits who recently joined, and Gatherall said the department continues to actively evaluate recruitment and retention to deal with what he called an ongoing nationwide challenge for volunteer departments.
"(The) challenge of modern day firefighting balance in shifting employment demands, family life, and a heavy time commitment required for modern fire service remains a hurdle," he said.
Council approved three fire department expense requests at the July 22 meeting, including new tires for the 2012 Dodge Ram truck, a $1,000 request for uniforms and other attire, and $3,300 for advanced first aid training.
Gatherall said that training will take place in six sessions over three days.
