FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  December 12, 2000

More firefighters will save more lives at Canadian airports

OTTAWA - "Saying that an increase in the number of firefighters at Canadian airports will not result in fewer deaths is like having the captain of the unsinkable Titanic, stating before launching his ship, that it does not require any more lifeboats. We know today that this can lead to a disaster," says Mike Wing, National President of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees (UCTE), a Component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

"Firefighters do save lives. However, they need to be in sufficient numbers to do a proper job. At the present time, Canadian airports are well below international standards on fire-fighting and rescue. Transport Canada regulations call for one firefighter per truck to lay down an escape path of foam and for people to extract themselves," adds Wing. "But one firefighter can't fight the fire outside the plane and inside at the same moment. Passengers are then left on their own to escape the plane. We know from our field experience that we require more than one firefighter to be able to control the fire outside the plane, while providing assistance to the crew and passengers inside the aircraft."

According to Wing, the National Defence evaluation of Transport Canada's regulations is very skeptical. "National Defence judged Transport Canada's policy as being correct if you want to save equipment, but it's not enough to save lives. We think that a sound policy should put lives above all the rest. This is why we will fight to have Canadian airports standards on fire-fighting and rescue raised to meet international levels."

Wing believes that the Air Transport Association of Canada's evaluation of the staffing of firefighters at Canadian airports "is driven by a tombstone mentality and this will continue until there is a major catastrophe. The cost of effective fire-fighting at airports is a fraction of the improvement fees that many Canadian airports are imposing upon travellers. If these improvements are a necessity, this should not be done at the expense of safety." Air Transport Association of Canada's President, Cliff Mackay, said to the Halifax Daily News today that hiring additional firefighters is neither needed nor cost effective.

"Adequate fire-fighting does save lives and to say the contrary is absolute nonsense," concludes Wing. "Accidents do happen and when they happen you need to have enough firefighters and equipment to help save the passengers. We think that the current situation at Canadian airports does not provide for that."

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Spokesperson: Mike Wing, National President - UCTE - (613) 238-4003, ext. 31

 For more information, call: Pierre Lebel, Communications Officer - PSAC - (613) 560-5482

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