Chatham-Kent will be adding another fire inspector to its payroll.
Council has approved the hiring, which will see the new fire inspector earn $121,554 per year. But CK Fire Chief Ken Steubing says having a total of four fire prevention officers still doesn't come close to meeting National Fire Prevention Association standards.
"They have a very rigorous inspection schedule that we are clearly nowhere near," he says. "Based on that standard, [we would] need 9.6 inspectors."
Based on geography, CK's three current staff members are responsible for covering 831 sq. km each. Steubing adds that`s nowhere near the provincial average for volunteer-driven services, attributing it partially to CK's vast size.
"There's just no way [it's] physically possible to get out there," says Steubing. "We are being outperformed by a lot of volunteer departments."
In addition to checking fire codes in various buildings, Steubing adds inspectors also analyze statistics, and participate in fire safety counselling.