It is the 11th anniversary of the tragic death of two North Perth firefighters, Kenneth Rea and Raymond Walter.
The two died after the roof of a building built with lightweight construction collapsed on them while responding to a fire in Listowel in 2011.
At the North Perth Fire Hall Thursday, Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece announced that new legislation has been passed to better protect firefighters, which included consultations with Municipal Housing and Affairs Minister Steve Clark, and the Solicitor General, as well as another key helping hand.
“The Fire Marshal jumped in, and we had a couple chats with him to explain what we wanted to get done, and he graciously decided to put that into his regulation that buildings are recorded in communities, so firefighters know what they’re facing.”
The new requirements include an amendment to Ontario’s Building Code, requiring chief building officers to notify local fire departments when lightweight construction is used, and Ontario Fire Marshal John Pegg has made it a requirement for municipalities to document all such buildings in their Community Risk Assessments.
“Not only lightweight construction, but they also would like to know if buildings have chemicals in them, or other stuff that could explode, stuff like that. So that’s what the community assessment regulation will do, and these things all have to be done by a certain period of time, too.”
Pettapiece’s private members bill, the Rea and Walter Act, twice received full support at Queen’s Park but never made it to the approval process, but he says this new legislation accomplishes much of what the act called for.
“In fact, I remember one opposition member even saying ‘Why has this not passed, it makes too much sense.’ But fortunately we got it through this way, and basically now, the Rea and Walter act is enacted, just through regulations.”
Additionally, Pettapiece says that the province has requested at the federal level that lightweight construction identification be harmonized across the country. He says that harmonization codes are already underway, which is being handled through the National Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes. He says by 2024 the code should be uniform all over Canada.
Along the way, Pettapiece acknowledged he had plenty of help to achieve this goal of better protecting firefighters from what happened to Kenneth Rea and Raymond Walter.
Now retired North Perth Fire Chief Ed Smith was critical in helping Randy formulate what became the Rea and Walter Act private members bill, as well as new North Perth Fire Chief Janny Pape, who presided over the ceremony today at the fire hall in Listowel. The Rea and Walter families were both in attendance, as well, and they were both gifted signed and framed copies of the new legislations that were passed as a tribute to the memories and ultimate sacrifices of Walter and Ken.
Chief Pape was part of the North Perth Fire Department on that fateful day in 2011, and after a few years of working for the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, she is now in command back in North Perth. She says getting these regulations enacted is extremely significant.
“It’s important so that when we do pull up on a scene, that we have awareness as to the hazard we’re walking into, and it helps us decide what type of attack we’re going to make on that fire.”
With her direct and lasting experiences from that tragic day in 2011, Chief Pape says it was so important that something was done so it never happens again.
“The pain of losing two of our members has had a dramatic impact on many lives. The families, as well as our personnel, those are scars we carry with us every day. If we can be part of eliminating that for another community, we’re happy to do that.”
With many years of hard work finally achieving meaningful changes, Chief Pape says she is very appreciative of Randy Pettapiece’s determination to represent the interests of firefighters in getting this finally done.
“We knew he had our backs, and we knew he was going to take this as far as he could, and when it didn’t work, you know, we made a few attempts to get here, but he stood behind us every step of the way and he pushed where he could and we pushed where we could, so it’s very significant.”
Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece alongside North Perth Fire Chief Janny Pape, as Randy announces new legislation to better protect firefighters as the community remembers fallen firefighters Kenneth Rea and Raymond Walter inside the North Perth Fire Hall. (Photo by Ryan Drury)
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