Squamish's firefighters battled the biggest residential blaze in years this weekend (see related story this page) – but a different conflagration within Squamish Fire Rescue has been sparked with the dismissal of Fire Chief Ray Saurette.

Saurette claims he was fired this week because of an "internal battle" between him and some of Squamish's volunteer firefighters over an attempt by Saurette to bring a halt to drinking at local firehalls.

But Mayor Greg Gardner calls the allegations "absolutely untrue" and says that Saurette never mentioned any concerns about alcohol until after he was fired.

In a scathing news release issued to media outlets across B.C. Wednesday (Dec. 16) Saurette says the controversy started last December when then-Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Kim Anema directed Saurette to enforce the district's policy prohibiting alcohol in district facilities to include the two firehalls – a policy Saurette says he supported.

"Just as we would not want to be operated on by a surgeon that has just come from the tavern, people in emergency want to ensure that the first responders helping them are not clouded by the effects of alcohol," Saurette wrote.

Saurette says that a small group of current and retired volunteer firefighters who did not want to lose the existing lounge at the firehalls "took exception" to the policy and convinced council to overturn the policy in January of this year. He says he was then directed by council to negotiate the lease of space in the firehalls to the Squamish Firefighters Association (SFFA) for the lounge.

"The explanation by the district? They believe the lounge is a good way of retaining volunteers," Saurette wrote.

However, Saur-ette says the conflict between him and some of the firefighters continued, with several volunteer firefighters sending disparaging emails regarding his performance to the new CAO, Kevin Ramsay.

"Ever since I've been painted as not supporting the volunteers," Saurette said in an interview Wednesday. "As a result my credibility over the last year has been brought into question."

The issue came to a head Nov. 23 when Ramsay told Saurette he was recommending his termination as fire chief. Saurette, who was about to go on holiday, demanded an opportunity to appeal directly to council, which finally happened this week in a closed-door session. Following a closed-door meeting of council, Ramsay advised Saurette Wednesday that council had adopted his recommendation to terminate his employment.

Saurette has been with Squamish Fire Rescue since 1996, when he was hired as deputy fire chief, and became fire chief in 2000.

Saurette said he has the "utmost respect" for both the professional and volunteer firefighters and full confidence in their training.

But he stands by his concerns about firefighters having access to alcohol at the firehall when they can be called into service at a moment's notice.

"When there is a fire in town or a vehicle crash on the highway there is no way to know if the person coming to your rescue has just put their beer down before they climbed on the fire truck," Saurette wrote. "Gum is routinely carried in the fire truck as a means of masking alcohol on the breath. That's not a very comforting feeling for anyone, especially in their time of need and it horrifies me that this carries on in this century."

Saurette said he had never observed a firefighter respond to a call while legally impaired.

"I will never say that anybody was impaired. Under the influence? Yes. You have one beer and you're under the influence. Whether or not that impairs their ability to perform at the highest level is the question."

While he as fire chief had the discretionary power to keep a firefighter from responding to a call, Saurette says he never used it.

In an interview with The Chief Thursday (Dec. 17) Gardner said Saurette's allegation of being fired over implementing a no-alcohol policy at firehalls was "absolutely untrue, and I'll say something stronger than that, and this is probably the most troubling part, is that Mr. Saurette knows that it's untrue."

Gardner confirmed that Saurette was placed on leave Nov. 23 and was dismissed this week.

"We had serious concerns about his leadership style not meshing with the direction that the District of Squamish is choosing to take," Gardner said.

"One of the directions the district has chosen to take is open, fair and accurate communication, both within our organization and externally and the statements that Mr. Saurette has made have made it even more clear that he is not able to live up to that standard."

Gardner confirmed that Saurette had an opportunity to appeal to council this week where Ramsay made a half-hour presentation laying out concerns regarding Saurette's performance.

"Not one of them touched on alcohol, the management of alcohol issues or anything of the sort, and the reason that that didn't occur is because we weren't aware of any," said Gardner. "I've been mayor for a year, I meet with Mr. Saurette more than once a week and never has he said that there's a concern about his fire force responding to calls under the influence of alcohol. For him to come out with these allegations the day after being terminated is shocking, frankly."

Saurette says that while he did not bring his concerns directly to the mayor or Ramsay, Anema and the district's human resources manager knew that there was drinking at the firehalls.

"The history was there that they knew consumption was occurring and these guys could get on the firetrucks. There was no need to move that forward, the impact was already noted," he said.

"Because this group lobbied council to overturn that directive, this council knew they would use the lease as a legal loophole, so they knew that alcohol consumption was still occurring in the firehalls.

"I believe members of council knew that that could lead to consuming [alcohol] and going out on calls. By virtue of allowing the lease to happen they knew the possibility existed for that."

Saurette also noted that he brought the alcohol policy issue up in his hearing before council this week in response to complaints from firefighters.

Gardner confirmed that firefighters brought concerns regarding Saurette's performance to council's attention.

"None of them revolved around alcohol," he said.

Gardner said he was not aware of a change in policy last year regarding alcohol on district property. "I was made aware that we had a policy of no alcohol on district
premises. I'm not disputing that, I just don't know it first hand," he said.

But Gardner said Saurette wasn't aware of a long-standing written agreement between the DOS and the SFFA to allow a lounge in the firehalls and that the DOS no-alcohol policy would not apply to them which was brought to council's attention by SFFA members after Saurette attempted to close the lounges.

"The arrangement was there for many years, it was confirmed in a formal lease this year, but it was recognized in writing; I saw a document," said Gardner.

Saurette's termination was not for cause, meaning that he would be paid severance. Gardner said that severance had not yet been negotiated with Saurette, but added: "Frankly I think our legal counsel will review our position on this being a not-for-cause termination. We have a fire chief who says there was a very serious problem in a fire department that he managed for nine years.

"If that turns out to be true and he did not manage it and did not bring it to his superiors' attention that's a pretty serious failing."

Gardner said the district is taking Saurette's allegations seriously and the CAO arranged a meeting with the SFFA Thursday night (Dec. 17) to go over them.

"He's made serious allegations and we will take them seriously, despite the source."

Despite the controversy, Gardner said he did not think a specific policy on the use of alcohol by firefighters was necessary.

"I would think that any firefighter in the world would tell you it's not appropriate to respond to a call under the influence of alcohol. We will look into that but that is just common sense and any fire chief would be aware of that."