Fire chief conference brings mental health to forefront

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This article was published 10/06/2023 (945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After three years of delay, the Manitoba Association of Fire Chiefs was co-hosted by the RM of Hanover and the City of Steinbach last weekend.

The annual conference gives fire chiefs across the province a chance to connect and to learn from various workshops. Roughly 250 people, including chiefs and their partners, attended the three-day event.

This year, the focus was on mental health.

“Firefighters see a lot of hurt, they see a lot of pain, and every time they see that, it’s just another brick in their wall,” said Kel Toews, City of Steinbach fire chief. “We’ve got to learn to tear down the wall and seek help for the mental health issues. We can’t bottle it up inside.”

The gathering included a golf tournament, a trade show, a banquet and awards ceremony and four keynote speakers focusing on mental health. Topics included PTSD, how chiefs can better serve their firefighters and strategies to cope with the stresses of the job.

Toews said mental health has come to the forefront in the past few years for firefighters and other emergency service workers because of the demands placed on them during the pandemic.

“There’s hardly a fire department that I know of that hasn’t been effected by mental health issues as a direct result of the work they are doing, so it’s very important,” said Paul Wiebe, RM of Hanover fire chief.

Toews urges firefighters to seek help for themselves or for their colleagues.

The Steinbach Fire Department has started using a peer support networking app in recent years. It allows firefighters to ask for help anonymously and discuss their struggles with others that understand what they’re going through.

“Firefighting is a brotherhood and we have to be more brotherly when it comes to talking,” said Toews. “We’ve got to tear down the stigmas and the macho image. It’s real and we have to talk about it.”