A fireworks cheer for fire chief
Mike W. Bryant
Staff columnist
Friday, December 31, 2010
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Hats off to Yellowknife fire chief Darcy Hernblad and reasonable regulation minders everywhere.
Hernblad has broken the shackles of free-thinking men and women living in the city of Yellowknife so they can once again proudly purchase fireworks for private New Year's parties like normal grown-ups should, without fear of exorbitant fines and government retribution.
Gone are the dark days of his predecessor who would have had us cower in fear should we dare skip his $150 mandatory fireworks class and light off a Roman candle or cherry bomb without his suffocating hand to guide us.
It seemed incredible to me last year when former fire chief Albert Headrick decreed that henceforth no one in the city could purchase or handle consumer fireworks - the regular garden variety not used in large professional shows - unless they could find the time and money to attend his rinky-dink course, limited to a maximum 20 people.
It was even more incredible that not a single city councillor or MLA found it bothersome that an unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat could make a decision limiting the activities of taxpaying voters without their approval or consent.
How ironic then that Headrick was here barely long enough to witness the fruits of his directive. Two months after all but banning fireworks usage by adult Yellowknifers he returned to Saskatchewan after living in Yellowknife and serving as fire chief for 22 months.
"There's so much damage caused by fireworks displays and injuries that are sustained with them," said Headrick without providing a shred of evidence.
I say that because after poring through this newspapers' archives I couldn't find a single story related to injuries from fireworks in the Northwest Territories in 15 years. There are plenty enough involving, say, snowmobiles.
In fact, there have been two snowmobile-related deaths in and around Yellowknife just this year alone. Yet, as long as one has a valid driver's licence, there is no requirement from the city to take a separate course to learn how to drive a snowmobile.
I might be inclined to argue that driving a car and driving a snowmobile are two entirely different things. Nonetheless, take your snowmobile outside city limits and you're not even required to wear a helmet, let alone have a special licence to drive one of these potentially very dangerous machines.
Yes, in the wrong hands or in the wrong location, fireworks can spell disaster. It seems just as unwise to hand your 12-year-old a box full of Saturn Missiles as it would to fire them at your neighbour's house.
People, especially young people, do get hurt. Thankfully the rules require users to be 18, to have a permit and to set fireworks on ice a safe distance from people's homes.
Happy fireworks days are here again, and just in time for New Year's. It would have been nice to have some forewarning but still we have Hernblad, a Yellowknifer of 30 years, to thank for having the foresight and reasonableness of mind to let common sense rule.
It's a refreshing position coming from a public servant. Too often the impulse seems toward nanny statism and rules for rules' sake.
20 comments:
The more i hear about this Headrick the less i like him. A real control freak for sure Administration and council should have done their homework before hiring him. Unless maybe thats exactly the type of as@##le they were looking for in the first place.
Some other bloggers thought he was really nice when they met him.
This all starts at the top. Ever since the departure of Tully (do we REALLY know why he left), the people showing up are those that will follow through on the Mayor's Agenda. Those that balk or oppose it, are GOOONE. Like attracts like -- same peas in the pod
The Agenda rules, so at the end of this Regime, we will be left with an Administration that was hand picked for the Agenda. Come October, the new Mayor and Council will be burdened with an established Bureaucracy that will in their minds be untouchable.
Could be wrong, but we are in for a long rough ride unless the Minister sides with the Ratepayers Petition.
Jose
I agree with Peter, they got exactly what they were looking for.It is the same with the new fire chief.
Minister side with the Ratepayers, who are now so silent it is unbelievable. Ha ha ha ha
It looks like the reporter in Yellowknife did not want to get on the team as well. Explains what was said to our reporter.
I think you guys are being rough and frankly unfair to Mr. Headrick. He's just doing the job he is being paid to do. And when you think of it, he's doing it quite well in that he is accomplishing the directives laid out before him by administration (CAO) who in turn is just following the agenda of mayor and council.
If anyone is to blame here it is as Jose pointed out. The buck stops here, means with mayor and council. Blaming Headrick is like blaming the worker for management's decisions. He's just following orders.
Interesting to note that this council, that did not back down to the firefighters, at yesterday's G&P meeting bent over backwards trying to placate the swimming pool society delegation. Some of them were ridiculous in their grovelling before these people while voicing sentiments that counter their organizational plan for the new recreation department... Them boyz seemed more aferred of them there ladies than the strapping men of the fire brigade. :-)
The bottom line is we have guys on the front line like Mr. Headrick doing the dirty work of mayor and council but when council is challenged in a face to face confrontation having to do their own dirty work they caved in like a bunch of spineless pussies!
Is it any wonder they're afraid of a town hall meeting?
JP
I disagree Jose.When we get a new council they will have to lay the law down and administration will have to follow or be terminated for just cause with no severance package.
Terminated with no severance package. Don't think so.
Anon 4:43 They are just employees.If they do as they are told they keep their jobs.If not, terminated with just cause.No severance.
If you disagree, explain to me how it works.
I have never heard of a government manager getting canned. Ever.
Anon 5:08 Maybe you should read more.
My main point is that they are just employees.They need to be treated fairly, but they also must do what they are told to do within reason.
I will give you an example to try and make my point. One of the administrators decides they have had eneough and misses half of shifts and when he does show up does next to no work. After a few verbal warnings that person would receive a few letters of discipline and then be terminated without a severance.
I do know that governments are weak and more often than not do pay a severance, and that is also a shame.
Anon Nov 29 @ 07:45 - All sounds great but it is the top Admin people that are the problem, plus we don't really NEED all of them. They will protect their own, and when the time comes to axe, it will be the "low man on the totem pole", outside workers first, to go. One doesn't fire the person whose desk he/she walks by each day. They need them to keep their job descriptions pumped up for high pay.
With your explanation, it is the Mayor and Council who will be doing the warning, the letters and terminations. Fat chance. Or, you still don't think that we are over-managed in this small burg.
Jose
Jose, I think you are misunderstanding me.I agree that it is the top people that are the problem, I also agree that we do not need all of them.
I was talking about severance packages and employees being terminated for just cause.And I am talking about the top people.
If the top person in administration is the problem, then yes council would have to do the warnings etc..
Why is this so difficult to understand.If at any time 4 councilors think that we are over staffed at the top positions can they not lay these people off?In this case you would likely have to pay a severance package.If council decides they have to cut employee costs by a half million dollars and lets administration decide how they are going to do this then you would be correct that it would be outside workers.
And just to be very clear on my position.I think we are WAY over managed in this small burg.
to anon 7 45 apparently the crowsnest pass doesnt have a disiplinary policy in place and can terminate any employee without warning ie ( the blairmore fire cheif)so anyone in administration is fair game
Anon 6:09 That was one of my concerns with the fire chief being terminated.Was it done legally?There are laws out there to protect the employee.Were the proper steps taken?
A labour lawyer once told me a story. An employee showed up for work every day 30 minutes late.After 10 years of this the company terminated the employee without ever giving him a warning either verbal or written.The employee fought the case and won.This lawyer went on to tell me that without warnings there are very few cases that an employee can be terminated on the spot.He said they are out there though and usually involve violence or theft.
So then the question is did the Chief get proper warnings or was he violent or did he steal something?
Well here is the thing. We have no knowledge of whether the fired chief had warnings or not. We don't know all the details and might never. I don't think they would have fired him after all that time without a reason.
Is there anyone in the community who believes that the restructuring of the fire department was done in an evenhanded professional manner? ??
No I don't believe so. I am upset that the expensive piece of equipment that Albert wanted to buy fueled the fireman months before their termination. They couldn't understand why the Administration wanted to purchase such an expensive piece of equipment and why they couldn't purchase something for 10 years older. Jamie does a fine job of maintaining the fire trucks. Is it now true that they aren't purchasing this equipment that got emotions running on high in the first place?
Kudos to Darcy Hernblad in Yellowknife for reinstating the fireworks that Albert Hedrich axed when he was hired there just as he axed ours. As soon as he was replaced by the new firechief, things went back to nornal. I don't know how anyone can defend his actions here after he got the axe in a previuos community, and destoyed the biggest community draw here, by cancelling OUR fireworks.
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