With Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe

Enjoy our chat with Hamilton Fire Chief Dave Cunliffe. Chief, thank-you for engaging with Hamiltonians in The Hamiltonian!

1.Over the years, the role of firefighters has evolved beyond traditional fire suppression. What are some of the biggest challenges the Hamilton Fire Department faces today, and how have these challenges changed since you became Chief?

In Hamilton, a City that has a diverse and complex risk profile (risk profile refers to the type, and degrees of risks present in the City… it is not just relative to fires but all potential emergency types that the Fire Department might respond to), it is important for the Fire Department to understand how the evolution and significant growth happening in the City impacts the levels of risk and risk profile, and by extension, the delivery of Fire Protection and Rescue Services to residents. I have found this to be the biggest challenge that the Hamilton Fire Department is and has been facing since I became Fire Chief in 2016. In 2024, the Fire Department published an updated Community Risk Assessment, a critical tool that allows the Hamilton Fire Department to comprehensively assess current and future risk. While the data in the report highlights overall fire risk in Hamilton, it is used to identify specific high-risk level areas, evaluate probability and consequences, and capture trends. All of this helps to identify potential and future actions and informs change relative to how the Fire Department delivers service that will be incorporated in our 10-Year Plan update.

2.Hamilton is a diverse city with a mix of urban, suburban, and industrial areas. How does the Fire Department tailor its emergency response strategies to effectively serve such a varied landscape?

With amalgamation, the Hamilton Fire Department became a Composite Fire Department. This means that both full-time and volunteer firefighters are utilized to deliver service to residents. In the City, Fire Protection and Rescue Services are delivered based on three levels of response: in the urban areas, full-time firefighters provide the emergency response, in suburban areas a composite response - a combination of full-time and volunteer firefighters provide the emergency response, and in the rural areas, volunteer firefighters provide the emergency response.

The Composite model provides an efficient and cost-effective way to deliver the required Fire Protection and Rescue Services in our urban, suburban, and rural communities within the City.

To effectively and efficiently serve the City, the Fire Department utilizes a number of response strategies/concepts within the three levels of response including: predetermined response plans based on incident type, risk level and required resource allocation, closest unit(s) dispatched protocols, and an Effective Firefighting and Rescue Force (EFRF) response strategy. EFRF refers to the convergence of resources required to effectively and safely conduct initial fire suppression and/or rescue operations at an incident scene. It consists of a minimum of four-four-person apparatus being dispatched to the incident scene. 

3.Could you provide insights into the historical trends of fire-related fatalities in Hamilton? How do these statistics reflect the effectiveness of current safety measures, and how does Hamilton compare to other cities of similar size and demographic makeup in terms of fire-related deaths?

The historical data is a follows: 2014 - 4 fire related fatalities, 2015 - 4 fire related fatalities, 2016 - 11 fire related fatalities, 2017 - 6 fire related fatalities, 2018 - 5 fire related fatalities, 2019 - a reduction to 1 fire related fatality, 2020 - 2 fire related fatalities, 2021 - 1 fire related fatality, 2022 - 8 fire related fatalities, 2023 - 3 fire related fatalities, and 2024 - 4 fire related fatalities. The significant trend of fire related deaths in Hamilton is also reflective in the trends being scene across the province. It is important to understand that any fire related loss of life is not acceptable. All these fire related deaths are preventable and is something I stress at every opportunity. The top causes of structure fires in Hamilton are behavioural based: improper use/disposal of smoker’s material, unattended cooking, arson and electrical. What makes this scenario worse is the trend seen since 2019, over 50% of the residences where a fire has occurred, do not have working smoke alarms. There is no reason for this, even with the best efforts of the Hamilton Fire Department to educate our residents through continued public education and with our Alarmed and Ready program that provides free Smoke Alarms and batteries (that firefighters will replace and/or install) we are not seeing any improvement. Today, fires are burning hotter and faster, which means people only have a few minutes to escape. A working Smoke Alarm will provide the early warning that is absolutely needed today to aid in a person’s ability to get out of the residence when there is a fire. I encourage all Hamiltonians to check their fire and smoke alarms once a month, or at minimum, every time we change our clocks.

4.Fire prevention is a key part of the Fire Department's work. What initiatives has the department launched in recent years to educate the public about fire safety, and are there any new programs you believe are necessary to reduce fire-related incidents in Hamilton?

Answered above in my previous response.

5. New technology is transforming the way firefighters approach their work. How has the Hamilton Fire Department incorporated technological innovations, such as drones or advanced firefighting equipment, into its operations, and what new advancements do you see on the horizon?

The Hamilton Fire Department as been utilizing Remote Personal Aircraft Systems (RPAS) – drone technology as an operational tool for several years now, through the creation of a RPAS program. Close to 40 firefighters, including both full-time and volunteer firefighters have completed the Transport Canada RPAS Pilot certification process. A dedicated emergency response unit has been outfitted and put into service. It not only transports our operational drones to the incident scenes, but also operates as a operations post where command staff can see/review the images being transmitted by the drone, that help to inform the operational decisions being made. The drone(s) are equipped with high density lighting and thermal imaging equipment. The lighting is utilized to light up scenes from above, which is extremely helpful at night when performing search and rescue operations in unlit open areas, the thermal imaging equipment will help to identify the location of the fire in a building from the exterior, the areas of involvement and the direction of fie spread as well as temperature levels. Additionally, the thermal imaging can be utilized to locate people in large outdoor areas in need of search and rescue. The images and information provided assists command staff in directing resources to specific areas of the building for search and rescue and firefighting operations. The Fire department has assisted Hamilton Police on several occasions with our RPAS - Drone technology (thermal imaging) in searching for missing individuals. On two occasions (one in December 2022 and one in early January 2023) the Drone assisted in locating and saving two lives of missing people.

The development and use of new technology, equipment in fire service is constantly evolving as the types of incidents that firefighters are dealing with are also changing/evolving. So is the development of new and/or updated operational ways/means of dealing with incident situations. All of this is being done with the focus of the of this development is based on increasing the level of firefighter safety and reducing the level of risk to the firefighter. Evolution, progress, and change is now a constant in the Fire Service.

6. How does the Fire Department balance its operations and services within the city's budgetary constraints? Are there specific areas where you feel additional resources or investment would significantly improve public safety or service delivery?

The Mayor and Members of Council are and have been very supportive of the Fire Department. As I previously mentioned, the Community Risk Assessment (which is endorsed by Council) helps to identify areas where we need to consider improvements/changes to our service delivery. Once these are identified, the Mayor and Council are made aware of the needs and the proposed solutions.

7.As you look to the future, what are your top priorities for the Hamilton Fire Department over the next 5-10 years? Are there any major changes, either in terms of infrastructure, personnel, or strategy, that you anticipate in order to better serve Hamilton’s growing and evolving needs?

Currently the Fire Department is focused on the construction of the joint Fire and Police Station in Waterdown and the planned construction of a new Fire Station in the Upper Stoney Creek area that is a result of the significant growth that has and continues to take place in the communities. The new stations will house the additional resources required to sustain service delivery levels.

The Hamilton Fire Department has now reached the halfway point of the 10 Year Fire Service Delivery Plan that was presented and endorsed by Council in 2019. Work is currently being initiated on the review, update and evolution of the 10-Year Plan that will map out the direction of the Fire Department for the next 10 years. It is expected that this will be presented to Council in the first half of 2026.

8. Is there any particular question you wish we had asked that we haven’t yet touched on? Feel free to use this opportunity to ask that question and respond to it

Given Hamilton’s complex and diverse risk profile how does the Fire Department ensure that the ensure the City is prepared to respond if an emergency happens?

The Hamilton Fire Department has responsibility for Emergency Preparedness. A Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment is undertaken on a regular basis to assess and identify which hazards pose the greatest risk to the City. The level of risk of each of the hazards is determined based on probability of occurrence, and level of consequence/impact. This information helps inform Hamilton’s Top 10 Risks and that further informs the annual review/update of the City’s Emergency Management Program. The Emergency Management Program has several components including but not limited to: the development of the City’s Emergency Plan, Critical Infrastructure registry, and Prevention and Public Education Programs, maintaining the City’s Emergency Operations Centre in a state of readiness, and the provision of ongoing training of the Emergency Control Group members.

Thank-you Chief Cunliffe.  For our readers who may have missed Police Chief Frank Bergen's interview, click here.

And thank-you to the people in the Fire and Police services that keep us safe!