CDVFD Safety Petition

We, some fire department members and concerned community residents, are writing this letter as we are worried for the families of our small community. The fire department has been run in a way that makes everyone question the integrity of some of its members, namely the chief and his family.

On the evening of Sept 6th there was a call for an MVA and the Collingwood fire department responded to the scene. One of the fire fighters jumped in and started the “county” owned fire truck and was told the chief would be driving it since he just arrived at the firehall. They arrived at the scene which was not too far from the firehall where they found a police car on someone’s lawn. As the scene was being looked after one of the RCMP officers on site suspected the chief had been drinking. The RCMP officers confirmed this with a breathalyser and subsequently put him in the cop car and took him to the station and was arrested with a DUI.  The deputy chief was also told to stand down by the Captain on site as she was intoxicated as well.

One big point to make here is that he was driving the “county” truck and was charged with a DUI. These are the people who are meant to keep us safe and not put others in harms way.

There have been also many issues over the past years that have occurred that you should also be aware of…..

The last couple of winters the chief and his family have been using the “county” owned fire hall basically as their home. They cook, shower and use the internet there. Apparently, their water froze in their house because they had no heat. Is this allowed since it is owned by the county?

One member left because some fundraising money went missing and when he asked the chief and deputy if they told the other officers they said they would keep it between them. This led him to believe that they were going to blame him for it going missing so he took a leave of absence and then he quit. They are also unwilling to show the accounting books to the members. Also, some alcohol went missing from the bar awhile ago as well.

The bylaws are frequently changed to suit their needs and voting power.

Members are quitting because of the way they treat them as well as because they are tired of the corruption that is going on there.  

We feel as a community the fire chief and deputy chief need to be replaced after this DUI incident along with the many other incidents.  The chief should not have been on that call at all especially driving and it would be up to the deputy chief who was also under the influence on the scene to tell him to stay back since she knew he was drinking.  Neither one of them should have been on the scene.

We, the undersigned, would like to see the cheif and deputy take resposibility for their actions (Zero tolerance in the bylaws) and either step dowm completely from the department or be terminated.  

Concerned Community    Contact the author of the petition