It’s business as usual for Kelowna’s new fire chief.
Travis Whiting, promoted from deputy chief to chief last week, said while the department is always changing to meet the needs of a growing city, continuity is important.
“One of the great things is we have a very strong leadership team here and there is a strong sense of continuity,” said Whiting, Monday.
The man formerly in charge of communications and emergency management for the KFD was named chief Friday, two years after joining the department under former fire chief Jeff Carlisle. Whiting’s fellow deputy chief Lou Wilde, who said he did not plan to apply for the chief’s job, has sat in as acting fire chief since Carlisle retired in February.
A 20-year veteran firefighter, Whiting began his career as a paid on-call firefighter in Williams Lake, rising to the rank of captain before moving on to become the Cariboo Regional District’s emergency program co-ordinator.
In 2007, he was named head of protective services for the Capital Regional District in Victoria and two years ago, he joined the Kelowna Fire Department as a deputy chief.
Here he was part of the department’s leadership team that upgraded fire dispatch services—the KFD now handles dispatch for the Central Okanagan, Okanagan-Similkameen and East Kootenay regions—formalized the Emergency Operation Immediate Action Team and put together the department’s strategic plan that was presented to council last year as part of the 2017 city budget.
He said his job will be to build on the successes of the past, saying he feels the department is currently staffed by well-trained, professional men and women who serve the city well.
“I think we do a lot of things very well here,” said Whiting.
But he also acknowledged there are challenges, many of them brought on by growth.
The current opioid crisis—fire fighters act as first responders—as well as mental health resources for firefighters, the ongoing issue of increased traffic congestion affecting response times and the allocation of resources are all issues that need to be addressed.
Part of the strategic plan called for the building of a new firehall in north Glenmore this year and the addition of firefighters to staff it. But council deferred that plan to the 2018 budget, a move that has affected response times in the area says the KFD. There is currently a small hall manned by on-call firefighters.
Another area Whiting is interested in bolstering is the fire prevention and education program.
“This job is a lot broader than just being prepared to fight fires,” he said.
But in the end, Whiting said he sees his job, and that of anyone in a leadership role, as making sure the people under him have the tools and training they need to do the job on the ground to the best of their abilities.
With call volume higher than many comparable departments, Whiting said he sees that as the his biggest task he faces as he moves into his new job leading the Kelowna Fire Department.