The District of Squamish is looking to fill two prominent leadership roles at Squamish Fire Rescue after losing two influential individuals hired 18 months ago to implement significant changes.
According to district staff and Fire Rescue members, many good changes have been made but one recent council decision has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who are leaving. Both Easterbrook and Adams expressed disappointment at council's decision not to include $40,000 for a Fire Rescue Master Plan in the 2011 budget.
"I found that [the decision] disappointing,' said Easterbrook, who returned from retirement for a one-year contract with the District of Squamish.
"That would have been very helpful for the district for the short term and definitely for the long-term planning of the department, such as the needs for the future. It would help guide council because it would give them a bit of a template of what to expect."
Council's decision not to fund the Fire Rescue Master Plan was a factor in Deputy Chief Mike Adams' decision to take a position in Kamloops - another disappointment for Easterbrook, who was confident in Adams' ability to take over as Squamish Fire Rescue chief.
"For me, it is extremely unfortunate that we lost the deputy chief because Mike Adams is a quality individual with an extremely good skill set in all areas of the fire service and a very talented man," Easterbrook said.
"We had a great team between the two of us and I think the department would have just carried on and not missed a beat with my departure if he was still here. I find it very sad for the district that they lost him."
Adams joined the Squamish fire department in 2009 after working for more than 20 years with the North Vancouver Fire Department. He's lived in Squamish since 2001 and said many factors contributed to his decision to take the position as Assistant Chief of Operations in Kamloops.
"It's a great opportunity," he said. "I saw the Kamloops fire department as very similar to the North Van district and it's primarily a career department, though there are some auxiliaries.
"They have seven fire stations, about 110 career firefighters and they do a lot of interesting things on the special operations side of things."
Adams said he also took the position in Squamish assuming he would have the opportunity to spend more time with his family, which hasn't happened.
"Given the rigours of the position itself, I wasn't spending the time with my family I thought I should be," he said. "The position in Kamloops, I think, lends itself more towards that and it's the same position as I had in North Van."
However, he said, he believes council made an unwise choice that factored into his decision.
"I have to say I was disappointed that council didn't back that proposal," he said. "Both Chief Easterbrook and myself had a lot of progressive ideas that were hinging on that Master Fire Plan.
"I'm disappointed that a lot of other departments got approval for their master plans, yet the fire plan did not.
"Was that the reason for my departure? No. I wouldn't say it is, but it was one of many factors. I have to tell you I'm disappointed council didn't back that proposal."
Easterbrook echoed Adams' disappointment, but acknowledged that budget decisions are often difficult ones.
"It would be a very useful document," he said. "But I also understand that council isn't blessed with unlimited sums of money and they have to look at the entire picture, not just the fire department, so they have a difficult job where they have to look at the needs of the entire community and try and balance it all out as best they can."
"There's always going to be people coming forward saying, 'What about me?'"
Mayor Greg Gardner acknowledged the number of difficult decisions council makes during the budget process, and said the Fire Rescue Master Plan was only ranked as a medium priority by council, and a new project item.
He mentioned that council "did support other fire department requests such as life insurance and recruitment."
"Council clearly hoped to be able to fund this new initiative in 2012," said Gardner.
Neither Easterbrook nor Adams felt as though they were leaving work unfinished. They expressed confidence in both the career and volunteers firefighters who remain, and the changes they've implemented.
"Here in Squamish I think we were really fortunate that both the career and volunteer members gelled and really embraced the changes that we implemented," said Adams.
"They're a great group to work with."
He said when he and Easterbrook started with Squamish Fire Rescue, they looked at how the department was operating and one of the key concerns was personnel safety.
"We implemented a variety of things to make the fire ground safer, increase our accountability and improve our effectiveness with deploying resources," he said. "I think that's gone a long way to increase the level of service for Squamish and the safety of our firefighters."
The chiefs already headed a recruitment drive in early 2011 and 17 new "really good quality" volunteer fire fighters were added to the team.
Kevin Ramsay, the district's chief administrative officer, made a point to acknowledge the value and service of every firefighter.
"Volunteers and career staff are the life-blood of our wonderful community," he said.
