I see value in continuing to expand the number of positions we pay to staff, and that is something I am committed to seeing happen. In the long term to sustain good service and keep up with modern issues I think expanding training opportunities, investing in better equipment to deal with electrical fires much like were seen in Summerside recently and with the growing number of electric vehicles having the potential for runaway fires. We also have seen a growth in the height of buildings around the city, seeing expansion to the apparatus available for high-rise rescue. I would also like to see biohazard response become part of the available training (Last I knew any response for such event had to come in from New Brunswick, but that may have changed since).

I think it would be the responsible thing to do to get metrics for the amount of available response personnel and equipment appropriate to add yearly as the city grows, which could be easily based on the metrics available from other major cities needs and applications. I would collect data on response times to each section of town, the level of response required, incorporating; personnel, equipment/vehicle usage stats as well as gather input from members of the firehouses on what would make them more effective at their jobs. The given information could then be used with larger cities' data to make a scaling plan going forward with costs factored in.

I do not agree with the city's current plans of expansion and development and would like to see those plans scaled down as they do not accommodate affordability for most citizens of the city, also I do not believe Charlottetown needs to be like any other token capital city with giant buildings everywhere, pollution brought in by ever expanding industrial spaces. We are a small place that functions better as a large community than a place ruled by companies demanding constant upward growth and profit. As well the charm of the city is the uniqueness of the style of buildings and how well the old aesthetic is maintained, adding tons of new construction to end up looking like one big brutalist hellscape will serve no one that isn’t absurdly rich. I do not think that they factor in for emergency response in general as the city has grown continuously and we have hardly seen an expansion to these services at the municipal or provincial level and it has become a prominent worry of mine given that I along with thousands of members of our community could easily be a victim of insufficient emergency responses as people with physically limiting disabilities like me are almost all but left of out the conversation. Why does our current government not plan for this more I suspect comes down to it not benefiting the people funding their major projects and parties. I believe collecting statistics, referencing functional examples, consulting with experts as well as our current roster of personnel is the best way to keep up with the cities' needs and to plan for the future of the city as the people involved directly in the day-to-day work know it best. Yes, the city should always factor all emergency services into all aspects of development and planning. I believe I have sufficiently covered how that should work in my opinion.

I believe the city should have committees with active-duty and retired firefighters as a large portion to give input on those kinds of decisions, the committees should also include engineers, environmental scientists and city planners to make informed decisions instead of largely having politicians make those kinds of choices. I could see an approach based on the rates of emergency service usage being used as an alternative to staff per firehouse being a fair unit of measuring, but it would not be my first approach.

I do believe that the city has a fairly good balance right now, with additional full-time positions being added to have a fully manned vehicle at the biggest stations to ensure the good initial response time. In my experience I have seen a good turnout of volunteers and have not heard much in the way of dissatisfaction from the volunteers with how their jobs work currently. If that were to change, I would be open to doing so. I think measuring the demand would best come from looking at models of larger cities along with data previously stated collected locally. I believe it is best to plan ahead rather than plan reactively for emergency response.

I believe the mayor and councils' role is to evaluate with expert advice and numerical data what the best course of action is. Resources needed can be both to prevent possible likely and unlikely events. Weighing the likelihood of those events taking place would best describe the government's role. I would balance the cities' overall needs with the emergency responders' needs by looking at how well the job is being done. If a large majority of calls are resolved with minimal injury and property damage with the current amount of staff/volunteers, as well I would consider the cities’ priorities based on how important they are to the wellbeing of our citizens. If removing funds brings into serious question, the wellbeing/safety of the citizens, those projects would take priority. If there is reasonable risk to the citizens without further funding to the emergency responders, that would take priority. I am not a person that values vanity projects; I am a much more practical and preparedness person.

Numerically I would want to see data on in no particular order: Call duration, time to arrive on scene, time until fire is evaluated, time to search completion, amount of responding personnel, severity of the emergency, injuries occurred, value of property damage appx., number of persons displaced, equipment used on scene, equipment repairs/damage, distance to calls average, water/foam usage (to evaluate fire hydrant demand) appx, personnel injuries, number of vehicles dispatched per call.

I would use any collection of data as an important consideration towards making any decisions about city needs, but it would be one consideration among many as there are many sources of information on any given topic, however it could pose as a reasonable goal to work towards.

I would support that data being publicly available as everyone should have a say in matters of government affairs. Also, it is important that people are aware of potential safety concerns within their community; transparency is very important, especially in times where accurate information can be difficult to discern.

The first thing I would ask would be where do they feel the city has failed the most in our emergency planning/management, and where have we failed the people serving our city. Both questions are ones I would have no answer to as it is very detached from my life and I feel it is important to support the people providing our community's best force of good as well as we can.

I picture the best future for our city’s fire force continually expanding slowly, adding more recruitment efforts and community engagement projects to have more of an eye from the public on the importance of the fire services role and their own roles in maintain a healthy and safe community. Seeing upgrades to the current service continuing to meet the new demands the future will offer. My first effort would go toward developing much more robust emergency plans for the city, including adding food/drink storage to sustain citizens in the event of major emergencies, have more spaces equipped to take in displaced individuals with emergency sources for heat and power, as well as expand resources to supply victims of disasters until they get back on their feet.

The biggest thing I would like to do with the fire department is to have more public events with their personnel involved to help restore a sense of community in the residents of the city, with the fire department as a central pillar of the city’s connection. Having the fire department directly involved in such programs will give the chance to increase education, improve harm reduction systems, allow people to meet new members of their communities, building stronger bonds that will help in times of need and restore trust in each other, hopefully breeding less division within the public. We are ever more distant from each other and continuing down this road will only lead to worse situations for everybody.