N.S. firefighter who died flagged safety issue with instructor: incident summary
Report shared with Skyler Blackie's family details fatal incident
New information shared with the family of a firefighter who was killed at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School in Waverley reveals that Skyler Blackie informed his instructor the expired fire extinguisher he was using had rust on it, but was told to use it anyway.
The revelation came this week after the Blackie family reached out to the provincial Labour Department for more information on the 28-year-old's case.
Blackie, a full-time firefighter with the Truro Fire Service, died in March 2019 after the expired extinguisher he was using exploded during a certification exam.
"That shouldn't have happened — ever," Blackie's sister Jessica Gillis told CBC's As It Happens.
A court case resulted in the school admitting in 2022 that it failed to perform routine inspections and keep adequate records.
The Blackie family recently learned the training facility received 41 new safety recommendations as a result of a third-party review.
The Labour Department said 22 "high-risk activities" were noted by occupational health and safety officers, and the "Safety Branch continues to work with firefighters' school to achieve compliance."
The family has not received a full copy of the third-party review.
Blackie's brother, Errison Blackie, is also a firefighter. He was at the training school when the incident occurred.
"We heard the explosion. We heard a staff member call for medical, in which case I ran over to Skyler," he recounted to CBC News.
"I came to find him on the ground with his mask shattered and bloody. Took off his mask with other staff members at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School, in which case we saw Skyler was breathing and identified that he was my brother."
Skyler Blackie died after 11 days in hospital.
Gillis said the family requested more information this week and was sent an "incident summary." She shared that report with CBC. It describes the incident in detail.
"Blackie successfully donned his equipment and chose the correct type of extinguisher. He observed some rust on the bottom of the extinguisher but was assured it was alright to use from the instructor," the summary said.
"However, when he charged the cylinder with propellant (compressed air), the bottom of the extinguisher blew out, and the top of the extinguisher struck him in the facial area, causing a fatal injury."
The summary said the extinguisher had been donated to the school by a shuttered Imperial Oil refinery. Its last annual inspection was dated 2014, and its last hydrostatic inspection was in 2004.
It said both the manufacturer's specifications and National Fire Protection Association require hydrostatic testing at 12-year intervals. In this case, those tests were out of date by more than three years, the summary said.
"The person proctoring the certification was never made aware that the extinguisher had never been inspected by the staff person normally responsible to conduct such inspections," the summary said.
It went on to say the person responsible for conducting those inspections was on leave at the time and the school never tasked another person to be responsible to ensure inspections were performed and that equipment that failed to meet inspections was removed, nor did they have a process to do so.
The summary said as part of the followup investigation, the extinguisher was inspected by a representative of the manufacturer, who advised that the extinguisher would have failed inspection because of the amount of surface rust.
Gillis said the summary "was incredibly difficult to hear."
"It's really hard to accept that. Our family previously did know that the inspection stickers on that extinguisher were expired," said Gillis.
"To know that it could have easily been preventable by acknowledging that rust or acknowledging the stickers were out of date is really difficult to comprehend."
The Labour Department declined an interview request on Thursday.
In a statement to CBC News, the department confirmed it shared the summary with the family.
"We always try to share as much information with families as possible without jeopardizing the case," the department said.
The school's response
The family had previously told CBC News they want the school to close, but they now say they want a change in leadership and for the school to close in the interim while that change is made.
The Nova Scotia Firefighters School declined an interview with CBC News earlier this week, and did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
In a public written statement, executive director John Cunningham said the school is "actively implementing changes to our operations and safety policies to create a safer training environment for all firefighters."
He said the organization is committed to continuing improvements.
But Gillis isn't buying it.
She noted Cunningham has never spoken with her family directly about the incident, even after a judge provided an opportunity for him to do so following the school's sentencing.
"I think that just goes to show that he doesn't hold any accountability for how he runs his school and the lack of safety," she said.
Gillis said her brother was someone who loved to help people. He started working at a local community centre at a young age, was a lifeguard and became a volunteer firefighter at age 18.
"[Firefighting] was his passion, and I think all those things just speak to what an incredible person he was, what a giving person he was," she said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Angela MacIvor, As It Happens
