I would have preferred to put this in the Sounder, but they ‘don’t typically publish letters about specific individuals, especially as it pertains to how well, or not well, they have done their job’, so here we go.
On honouring the shoulders upon which one is about to stand
I’m responding to comments made both publically and through a whispering campaign about Fire Chief Rick Jackson.
The latter, centered around the “Vulcan mind-meld” theory (a belief that someone who stands for something you don’t is under the influence of – apparently posthumous – hypnotisation), is a canard originating from the Weldwood era.
It’s nonsense. Suggesting that someone disagrees with you because they are brain-washed is, at best, hubris.
More public are suggestions that the power structure at the fire department is inverted, and insinuations that the department is therefore not well run.
I’ve worked in organisations with volunteer boards and have observed many more in action. The best of them have always been led by strong, capable executive directors with a clear understanding of the organisation’s history and how to achieve its mandate.
In a true “dream team”, such EDs are supported by board members who recognise and respect that leadership, and contribute their individual talents and abilities to help realise the organisation’s potential.
This is the kind of leadership I’ve observed from Jackson, and it would be both a shame, and shameful, not to recognise his service to the community. So here’s a list of some of his accomplishments:
• Started using the Gabriola Volunteer Fire Department’s (GVFD) team of officers as duty officers who could respond quickly to the public when he was not on duty.
• Expanded use of the International Fire Service Training Association system originally instituted by former Fire Chief Jared Hooper. This system was later adopted by the Province.
• Invited Albert Reed, a retired electrical engineer to run for election for the board of trustees. At his own expense, Reed went back to UBC and completed his fire protection engineering degree, subsequently writing a long-term fire plan for the GVFD.
That plan laid out the path to achieving the Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS) insurance rating, which included: purchasing equipment; building a new fire hall; and establishing fire-fighting water sources (hydrants) – currently located at the ferry turn-around, Camp Miriam, Shaw Road, Island’s View Road, and Lockwood Road.
• Led the GVFD to attain Superior Shuttle Tanker Status, and become the first Canadian volunteer fire department west of Ontario to receive the FUS residential and commercial insurance rating – without the support of neighbouring fire depts.
As this rating is the equivalent of having fire hydrants located every 300m around the island, it saves property owners hundreds of dollars more in insurance costs than fire dept. taxes cost us.
• Pushed for the connection between Hess and Coats Rd., and the soon to be completed Church/Spruce connector, as well as secondary exits from all the other existing subdivisions.
• Brought the Lions, HAM radio, Emergency Social Services, Pets and Livestock Services, and other pertinent groups into the new fire hall so that all the emergency and support services would be in one spot, and have a place to meet.
Gabriola has been blessed with a skilled and forward-looking fire chief for many years – one who has done a superb job of keeping the island safe, and of helping the community focus on actions rather than on anxiety during tense fire seasons.
So it’s hardly surprising that, with Jackson leaving, the anxiety in the community has risen – especially around who will be in control in the future.
If the next administration has the competence to manage the job and the anxiety – both the community’s and its own – hopefully that sense of discombobulation can be truncated.
If Jackson has a sense of who those folks might be, given his track record I, personally, will trust it.
For Peace, Truth, and Justice,
Chris Bowers
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