Pleas for more time and support for volunteer firefighters who need to meet provincial performance standards by next summer's deadline appear to be gaining traction in rural Thunder Bay communities.
But Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal is sticking to a July 1 deadline.
The latest request for extra time was put forward by the Town of Englehart, which contends it's not realistic for the province to expect small fire departments to meet the deadline.
By then, firefighters in Ontario are expected to have at least a Level 1 designation in order to be able to fully respond to emergencies like a house fire or the scene of a road crash.
"Although it's important to standardize firefighting training and safety, these mandatory certification requirements pose significant challenges for small, rural and northern municipalities due to limited financial and training resources, geographic barriers and reliance on volunteer fire departments," reads the Englehart resolution, which was passed last month.
"The implementation of these requirements without additional flexibility or support may negatively impact the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters to provide adequate fire protection," the resolution adds.
The Township of Terrace Bay passed a similar resolution around the same time. The Terrace Bay resolution was supported by O'Connor Township. Last week, Gillies Township opted to support Engleharts' resolution.
Englehart is a Highway 11 community of about 1,500 north of North Bay. It's resolution has been forwarded to the Ontario fire marshal and the Solicitor General's office.
Englehart chief administrator Amy Vickery said the issue for many volunteer firefighters is finding the time away from work and family to get the training the province requires.
"Training is important, but how do we get there?" Vickery said on Wednesday. "How do we skill people up?"
An Office of the Fire Marshal spokesman said the agency has reached out to Englehart's fire chief "to have a dialogue on the fire department's certification level and how we can continue to support the firefighters in their community."
"Our team is committed to working alongside those departments who have concerns with the timelines to help them achieve certification by July 2026 compliance dates," the OFM spokesman said.
He added: "Firefighting is a profession, and as with most professions in Ontario, there is an independent certification process to validate that an individual has had training and education that meets or exceeds the industry's best practices."
Earlier this year, Pass Lake's fire volunteer department noted the difficulty of attracting new recruits when the after-hours training commitment is so demanding.
Pass Lake fire Chief Alex Pyne noted at the time that within his department's contingent of six firefighters, only two had the Level 1 designation.
Pyne said he was worried his fire department might have to shut down.
Nolalu fire Chief Sarah Shoemaker has said Pyne's predicament is familiar.
"I personally know of four (rural fire departments) that have expressed very similar sentiments and concerns of having to close their department, and that is not including Pass Lake," said Shoemaker, who is also the mutual-aid coordinator for firefighting services in the Thunder Bay district.
In 2021, the province closed its fire-training college in Gravenhurst as part of a "modernization of firefighter training across the province."
That includes enhancing firefighter training courses through a number of delivery methods, including online and mobile training units that provide live training at designated regional training centres, the Ontario Fire Marshal said.
One of the training centres is the Oliver Paipoonge facility in Kakabeka Falls.