Rocky View County (RVC) Fire Chief Ken Hubbard remarked there has been immense growth in the departments that make up the RVC Fire Services, but also an increasing development of challenges that are making life for County firefighters difficult.
“There is an environment of constant change which encourages us to evaluate and deliver on future needs to our communities,” said Chief Hubbard at the RVC Fire Services Long Services Awards ceremony on Oct. 21.
Chief Hubbard and Deputy Chief Jon Evans are new to their respective roles with the county; Hubbard assumed the position of County Fire Chief in January of 2023. Before that he was Deputy Fire Chief for a year.
“Years ago,” said Hubbard, “Rocky View County relied entirely on volunteer departments; those stations continue to serve a vital part of our county fire service delivery mode.”
Currently, RVC has seven fire halls that cover over 3,800 square kilometres of largely rural farm land.
The challenges facing firefighters in RVC are not limited to what urban firefighters deal with –grass fires are a common concern, especially in the hot and dry temperatures seen over the past few summers, according to Hubbard
But another challenge Hubbard sees, is a little more subtle.
“Our goal as firefighters is to look at changes and adapt as safely as we can,” he said. “Lithium batteries have become very popular in a lot of products, they’re in everything from cars to e-scooters. It brings another degree of challenge to our firefighting.”
The increase in popularity of electric cars and scooters has made transportation cheaper and more easily accessible, in the scooters case, but that comes with a trade off, according to Hubbard.
CBS News reported that in New York City, where scooters and EV cars are becoming more popular, 220 fires were caused by lithium batteries in 2022, over 104 more than the previous year.
In a place like Rocky View County, arid conditions in the summer months make for good fire starters to begin with, said Hubbard, and adding something as potentially volatile like a large quality of lithium batteries from a car can make for a scary thought for members of the county fire service.
“[Something like that] is new to our service,” Hubbard said. “So, we always have to adapt and overcome what comes next.”
“One of our goals is to make sure we keep moving forward and keep changing the way we do business because our world is changing, houses are changing, everything is changing and we're evolving to meet those changes.”
Throughout his remarks to firefighters at RVC’s Long Service Awards, and in the conversation that took place for this article, Hubbard couldn’t stop emphasizing the importance of adaptation.
“Change is what we do,” he said. “Some in the fire service have resisted change but change is our bread and butter… We can't control some of the changes that [affect] the weather, the climate, or human choices. We live in an ever changing world and our collective challenge as a [fire service] is to anticipate and plan for change.”
As Hubbard closed his remarks for the Long Service Awards, he mentioned the idea of developing togetherness and that the foundation of a good team is not how well each person performs, but how well they work together.
It’s an idea that Hubbard has tried to invoke since he became chief in January.
“When I became chief,” said Hubbard. “There was a lot happening in the county. Lots of exciting change and a bright future… [One] of our goals is to be proactive and look at our needs today and into the future.”
