Victoria Beach firefighters threaten to quit over chief's termination

As many as 10,000 residents and cottagers on the southeastern shores of Lake Winnipeg could be without first responders as early as Tuesday morning if the Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach doesn't reinstate dismissed fire chief Brad Patzer.

Patzer — who is also the community's emergency measures co-ordinator and health and safety officer — had been working as a volunteer firefighter for 30 years, and was the acting fire chief for the last 12 years.  

On Tuesday, council voted 4-1 to fire him. 

"The fire department feels that he has done nothing wrong and should not have been fired," said Deputy Fire Chief Wolf Kraft.

Members of the volunteer fire department, which responds to both fire and medical calls in the rural municipalities of Victoria Beach and Alexander, have threatened to walk off the job in protest if Patzer isn't reinstated by Tuesday morning.

About 200 people attended a rally and emergency town hall meeting Sunday in an effort to pressure the RM to reverse its decision. Kraft said the reeve and all five council members were invited but none of them showed up.

In a statement issued on the RM's website, Victoria Beach Reeve Brian Hodgson said Patzer was fired as a result of an ongoing conflict. 

"For several months Mr. Patzer refused to communicate with the RM in the manner expected of an employee tasked with multiple and significant responsibilities," the statement said.

Hodgson said officials tried unsuccessfully on several occasions to reach out to Patzer and resolve the issues but their efforts were ignored. 

"This ongoing refusal to communicate and co-operate with the RM was not acceptable. This behaviour placed the RM at increased risk of liability and was not proper or acceptable in an employee/employer relationship," the statement said.

The answer doesn't sit well with Kraft.

"You don't take an HR or workplace issue between personalities and people and fire your chief over it. It think this shows very poor leadership in the part of our reeve," said Kraft.

CBC News reached out to Hodgson on Sunday to find out whether council planned to reinstate Patzer, but the call was not returned.

The 22-member fire department will vote Monday evening to decide whether the firefighters should remain on duty.

"Basically we feel that council is now holding the fire department over a barrel and holding the community at ransom because of a decision that I feel that they made that wasn't correct," said Kraft.

Kraft said he's tried at least five times to get council to sit down and discuss the issues, but they refused.

"This is a conflict that I feel should have been able to be resolved without going to this point," he said.

'He's phenomenal'

RM of Alexander resident Tiffanie Lauze said while the thought of having no first responders working in the community is frightening, she supports the volunteer firefighters in whatever they decide.

"They have to stand by their chief," said Lauze. "He needs the support as well and I think that's the only way we'll be able to see him reinstated as our fire chief and that's essentially what we want.

'We want to see him back because he's phenomenal."

Lauze said firefighters were called to two medical incidents involving her family members in the past two years, both of which had happy endings thanks to their quick response.

"Not only did they provide their services then, Brad phoned my husband afterwards to make sure we were okay.… He goes over and above his line of duty," she said.

Lauze has three children under the age of eight and fears if the community loses its fire department, it will take first responders from other areas much longer to get to emergencies.

In an email to CBC News, the province said the surrounding RMs have been notified and mutual aid support remains in place. The spokesperson also said the Office of the Fire Commissioner will be available to assist the RM with planning and questions for revitalizing and administering their service.

"It's just ridiculous … it's beyond … it's like a Trump complex they've got — they can do whatever they want. Well guess what? We're not the United States. We're not putting up with that crap," said Colleen Henderson, who has lived in Victoria Beach for 44 years.

Henderson said about 14 years ago her home caught fire and firefighters saved it.

"This is a small community with a very big heart, and I mean, this is terrible, what's going on," said Henderson.

Henderson went to school with Patzer and his wife and said the two would give the shirts off their backs for anyone.

"The fact that they have done this to him is just mind-blowing," she said.

Henderson said even if the fire department quits, she believes they wouldn't hesitate to jump into action if there was an emergency.

"These guys would jump in without their gear on or whatever. They would come, but the fact of the matter is is that our RM needs to smarten up. It's just wrong," said Henderson.

Former reeve wants province to investigate

"I had avoided up till now making any comments," said former reeve of Victoria Beach Tom Farrell.

Farrell served on council from 2000-10 then was voted reeve from 2010-14. 

"There were things council were doing that I disagreed with, but I really felt that it's chicken shit for a former reeve to be making comments, but this time they have gone too far," said Farrell.

Farrell said council had fired its previous CAO a year ago after she told them a decision they wanted to make was contrary to the Municipal Act. He said since then, things have continued to go downhill for the community.

"They've been going downhill since this group came in but it's really accelerated this past year," said Farrell.

"I would like to see the minister of municipal relations get off his butt and get someone to take a look at it. I think that needs to happen and I think more people have to be writing to him."

Kraft said firefighters don't want to walk off the job, but feel they may have no other choice.

"I really don't know how we can impact council to change their decision right now. If we were to just stay on as council expected us to and go back and respond to a fire on Tuesday morning, then council will just say 'Yes, see, we made the right decision,'" said Kraft.

"On the other hand, if we withdraw our services and there's a major fatality or something in our area that could have been prevented by our response, then we would not be able to live with that either, so this is … very difficult."

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