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

Introducing a New Series in The Hamiltonian “What Is It Like to Be a ______?”

Ever wondered what it’s really like to walk in someone else’s work shoes?

The Hamiltonian is pleased to launch an exciting new series that goes behind the scenes of everyday professions and roles — from the well-known to the rarely explored — to uncover the personal, human side of work.  This series offers a candid and thoughtful look at life on the job, straight from the people who live it.

Each installment will address a different career, sharing honest reflections from individuals in the field. Our goal?

- To provide valuable insight for those considering a similar path
- To foster greater understanding and appreciation for the work others do — in all its complexity, challenge, and reward

This series is not about politics, policy, or reform. It’s about people — their stories, their struggles, their passion, and their purpose.

We’ve asked our contributors to be open, sincere, and reflective, so that readers can truly grasp what it’s like to work in their shoes. We’re proud to kick things off with: “What Is It Like Being a Nurse?” 

We welcome Erin Ariss, RN, who shares her insights below: 

1. What is one of the most emotionally challenging situations you've faced as a nurse, and how did you cope with it?

As an emergency department nurse, the most emotionally challenging situations have involved the death of a baby or young child. As a parent, it’s impossible to not identify with the parents and ask, ‘what if that was my child?’

As for coping with it, as nurses, we are expected to swallow any distress or emotion, focus on providing the care and tasks involved, perform CPR, start an IV, draw blood…and let our emotions out at a later time and place. It is important to do that, and to get support if we need it.

One thing is certain: after getting home from a shift in which a baby or child was at risk, I always hugged my children tighter.

In addition to this, the lack of personal protective equipment we experienced as nurses at the start of the pandemic was horrifying. Far too many of us were infected with COVID and many of us were afraid to go home to our families for fear of infecting them. It was a terrifying experience and has left a lot of trauma in its wake.

2. How do you maintain a sense of personal well-being and prevent burnout in such a high-stress environment?