2018 Annual Report

City of Chilliwack 43 OBJECTIVE STRATEGY MEASURE PROGRESS Provide enhanced and proactive bylaw enforcement. Expand proactive enforcement to early mornings, evenings and weekends on a seasonal and as- needed basis. Two seasonal Bylaw Enforcement Officers were again hired in the spring of 2018 to provide support to the full- time Bylaw staff and evening and weekend services. These officers proactively patrol neighbourhoods, parks and trails on foot and bicycle with voluntary compliance and education as their primary mandate. The seasonal officers had over 2,000 interactions with the public in the first five months of their employment. Provide a Safe Community Provide the community with effective fire and life safety education to prevent and reduce the loss of life and property. Provide fire safety and emergency preparedness education to businesses, community groups and the public. Revise the existing community risk assessment (CRA) and continue to develop community risk reduction programs (CRR). Delivered 165 fire safety and emergency preparedness education sessions to over 3,800 persons, including education for school children, seniors, community groups, local businesses, First Nations and gated communities. Fire Department developed and implemented our new Home Safe Fire Prevention Program. Fire Department staff replaced 18 smoke alarms. The community risk assessment (CRA) is being updated and revised and is 40% complete. Increase fire and life safety in multi-family residential buildings and gated communities. Continue to work with building owners to upgrade their fire and life safety protection in older apartment buildings. 116 multi-family residential buildings are currently on our fire and life safety upgrade program with 89 (76%) of the upgrades completed. Plan for the response and recovery of the City and community in times of disaster. Work with First Nations to integrate emergency plans. Complete individual City department business continuity plans and attach to City's response and recovery plan. Researched and reviewed business continuity planning methodology and employee engagement best practices. Through the 2018 freshet event, staff engaged 2 First Nations on emergency plan integration and joint planning opportunities. Work continues to re-focus the business continuity planning process through increased engagement with City staff. Develop a sustainable and comprehensive emergency management training program. Exercise the City's Emergency Preparedness (EP) Plan. Delivered one exercise on emergency management situational awareness and emergency operations centre (EOC) structure. Completed section specific training for each EOC function. Several staff completed various emergency management training courses from the JIBC. Increase the number of on- duty firefighters to reduce response times and provide safe and effective firefighting operations. Increase staffing levels to 4 firefighters on both Engines 1 and 4 on a 24/7/365 basis. Two (2) "flex" firefighters will be hired in 2018. The staff increase will provide an "in-service" time for Engine 4 (Sardis) of 97% and will provide for a safer, effective and faster response to incidents south of the freeway. Increase the quality and quantity of firefighter training, education and preparedness. Expand training programs to include leadership and health and wellness education for all career and paid-on- call firefighters. Continue to work on the fire training centre site. Meet or exceed the competency requirements outlined in the BC Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Playbook. Continue to develop more career staff as instructors and increased the use of contract trainers. Twenty one (21) POC firefighters completed the Team Leader program and eight (8) career firefighters completed the Fire Officer 1 program. On-site work continues on the fire training centre, located west of Townsend Park, with 2 new structures and various firefighting props constructed on the site. Continue to adopt and implement best practices and industry standards for firefighter training. Continue to implement competency requirements outlined in the BC Fire Service Minimum Training Standards Playbook. Support RCMP initiatives regarding drugs and drug- related crime. Health & Safety Team (Fire, Bylaw and RCMP) work together to close and clean up residential properties. Bylaw tickets issued. In 2017, the Health & Safety Inspection Team (RCMP, Bylaw, Fire Department & Technical Safety BC) shut down 6 controlled substance and marijuana grow operations, conducted 6 medicinal grow operation inspections and conducted 82 health and safety inspections. 2018 to-date, the Team has shut down 5 controlled substance and marijuana grow operations, conducted 1 medicinal grow operation inspection and conducted 35 health and safety inspections.