Fire Fighting in Canada

Modern fireground search and rescue procedures remain among the most dangerous and critical tactics performed by firefighters. The primary function or mission of any structure fire response is life safety, and search and rescue operations often place fire crews in a high risk, low visibility, and possibly rapidly changing environment. Since today’s fires burn faster and build...

Fire Fighting in Canada has welcomed a lot of new perspectives in the last year. In the November 2025 issue, Fire Chief Rob Grimwood joined as a new co-author for the Leadership Forum. Rob was also newly joining the Sudbury fire department in Ontario. For this issue, Fire Chief Karen Fry, who helms Vancouver, is debuting as the other new co-author for the Leadership Fo...

Interior or exterior fire attack: this is an age-old debate, with validity for all parties, but rarely with context that matters. Let’s explore both sides. 

Arguments for exterior attack often include a quicker knockdown of fire, a faster change in conditions for victims, and an easier search. These thoughts are supported by modern research conducted primarily by ...

Fire Chief Dallas D’Aoust is a strong advocate for mental health, leading an initiative that secured dedicated mental health funding for his previous department in Yorkton, Sask. In this month’s podcast he discusses the cost of mental health and what that means for today’s firefighters. D’Aoust has spent over 20 years in the fire service after beginning his career in Edmonto...

In Canada’s railway emergencies, outcomes are often determined before the system fully arrives. For fire service leaders—especially in rural communities—the first hour is where leadership defines success or failure within a system that has not yet come together.

On Sept. 15, 2018, conductor Kevin Anderson went to work like thousands of railway wo...