Oak Bay Professional Firefighters

First and foremost we are career firefighters so our primary responsibilities are fire prevention, rescue and fire suppression for the district Oak Bay and homes in the Saanich panhandle (automatic aid agreements). We also provide first responder (medical) and technical rescue assistance, and are members of the Capital Regional Hazardous Material team. Public Service is what we pride ourselves upon! Fore detailed fire department role in the community you are encouraged to check out the official fire department website (oakbay.ca)

NFPA has written response standards called NFPA 1710 – see below. While this isn’t a regulation, most North American departments adhere to these standards, and use them to obtain qualifiers and ratings. The District of Oak Bay uses Saanich Fire as their dispatchers, and Saanich Fire maintains the time for alarm processing. Once this alarms received, response and “on scene” times are all set in that NFPA document (and departments must meet standard 90% of the time). We are happy to report that your Oak Bay Professional firefighters meet this standard.

Did you know:

Alarm Processing Time: 64 seconds or less.
Turnout Time: 60 seconds for EMS and 80 seconds for fire/special operations.
First-Due Engine Arrival: 4 minutes (240 seconds) or less for fire suppression and EMS first response.
Full Alarm Assignment: 8 minutes (480 seconds) or less for the deployment of a full alarm assignment (e.g., structural fires)

The official Fire Department is the best place to look for information, you can view the official department on the District of Oak Bay’s website (google Oak Bay BC)

I.A.F.F. is abbreviated for the International Association of Fire Fighters, “The IAFF is one of the largest and most influential labor unions in North America, who are committed to advancing the rights, safety, and future of fire fighters, emergency medical workers, and rescue workers across the United States and Canada”

This organization began when Pittsburg Fire Fighters under the American Federation of Labor local 11431 organized I.A.F.F. Local 1 around 1906. Supported by the AFL president at that time, many other firefighters organizations took local numbers under the IAFF, by 1918 17 new unions had formed, including Vancouver Firefighters Local 18 being the first Canadian union.

Oak Bay Firefighters are 31 members of the International Association of Fire Fighters, employed by the District of Oak Bay for fire prevention, firefighting, technical rescue and medical “first responder” treatment. As a unionized firefighter local we have a union executive (president, vice president, secretary treasurer and 2 trustees). We also have our Charitable Director, Muscular Dystrophy Chair, Honor Guard command, car seat installers, and Benevolent association executive. Each of these positions help run the union and arranged the many volunteering opportunities we partake in annually.

Oak Bay Professional firefighters are involved in many charitable events throughout the Capital Regional District and lower mainland.

Santa’s Anonymous – We have collected money and food and help hand out hampers and gifts using our own personal vehicles to deliver these hampers to needy families in the CRD for over 40 years.!

Christmas Tree Recycle – we have been providing bursaries to the local High School for over 35 years, this started as a “wood chop” where we would sell cords of wood to local households, wed have it delivered to the fire station parking lot, chop it and deliver it using our own vehicles. Over time people stopped burning wood and the Christmas Tree Recycle was born. Now we collect trees by donation and they are ground up and reused as chip trails and animal bedding. We continue to provide our bursaries to 5 or more vocational trade students at Oak Bay High.

Firefighters Burn Fund – We organize money drives and give our time to help raise money for the BCPFFA burn fund and the Greater Victoria Firefighters Burn Fund. Our unions been actively involved in these charities for over 30 years. Setup or take down of the Bright Nights display, which raises money for the burn fund.

Terry Fox Run – Firefighters are a big part of this event and we have been fundraising and providing a cheque every year to the Terry Fox run in Victoria. Members of our honour guard attend the opening ceremonies, and several of our off duty members have even gotten their head shaved to commit to the spirit of love, and giving for those who are going through, or are survivors of Cancer. A small journey begins with a dream and step, we will follow that legacy as long as we are here.

Of course, the dedicated union members who had a dream and brought forward the “Oak Bay Firefighters Charitable Foundation”. This has grown into a very diverse program which has enabled us to provide so much more back into the local community, and the Greater Victoria area. Obviously none of this would mean anything if it wasn’t for supporters, donations and sponsors. Wee are truly thankful to them, and you, for supporting us to help give back.

You can help support us by Donating, your donation is tax deductible, and goes a long way towards helping communities in your area. You can donate to our Charitable organization through Canada Helps

Also, ON RIGHT NOW is the Oak Bay Firefighters Charitable Foundation vehicle raffle and 50/50 draw. We’d love it if you bought some tickets and spread the word of this event to your friends. Good Luck and stop by if your the winner, we’d love to see you in that awesome ride!!

Raffle Nexus

Oak Bay Fire Department is a career staffed fire department, meaning there are no volunteer firefighters, sorry.

Unfortunately due to insurance and liability coverage costs IAFF 1856 cannot accept volunteers to assist us either. Our 31 member union membership provides 100% of the volunteers for all of our fundraising efforts. If you’d like to help we do accept donations, and those are tax deductible!

You can reach our Charitable Director by sending an email to trent@oakbayfirefighters.ca