Unlike many sectors, the Quebec City Fire Protection Service (SPCIQ) is not facing a labor shortage and is even attractive to firefighters who want to work there, its boss said Wednesday.
During the examination of the Quebec City budget at City Hall, the director of the SPCIQ, Christian Paradis, pointed out that there was “no shortage” in his team. “We are very pleased to report that we have no issues with recruiting.”
Attractive
The chef also emphasized that his service was attractive.
“In the fire service, barely 1% of departures involve people working elsewhere, and usually it involves working for another fire department. But we have a lot of people leaving other fire departments to work for Quebec City.”
This allows Quebec to have “the best” workforce, according to the boss. For example, Mr. Paradis explained that fire safety standards require that in the event of a fire in a building 75 feet or more high, we must be able to assemble 43 firefighters. “In Quebec City we have the ability to do that. And we can do it twice. So things are going very well.”
Nautical Brigade
As for the special teams, the director mentioned that the SPCIQ maritime brigade is one of the teams that carry out the most real rescues of people in distress at sea every year.
“We have a powerful nautical team that does its job very well.”
$10 million for training
The service also invests in further training. To maintain the specialized teams, we invest $1 million per year. A total of $10 million is spent annually across the service to conduct training activities. “Training is essential, it contributes to the security of our people and certainly to the security of the population,” explained Mr. Paradis.
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