Deputy Fire Chief

Position Summary

Situated on the picturesque Grand River, the City of Brantford is a rapidly growing community of over 100,000residents, located in the heart of Southern Ontario with direct access to Hwy. 403 and is in close proximity to the GTHA, Waterloo and Niagara regions. As a single-tier municipality, Brantford is responsible for the full spectrum of municipal service areas. We invite you to join our #TeamBrantford corporate culture with many progressive initiatives, including our hybrid work environment. The City is committed to the professional development of our staff and invite you to come, grow with us!

The Deputy Fire Chief is an integral member of the fire administration team responsible for providing exceptional fire protection service to our community. Reporting to the Fire Chief, the Deputy Fire Chief leads a progressive career fire department consisting of 144 dedicated members operating from 4 fire stations through the following 7 divisions; Administration, Fire Prevention, Suppression, Professional Qualifications & Standards, Communications, Fleet &Facilities, and Emergency Management. This position is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Fire Suppression, Professional Qualifications & Standards, and Fleet & Facilities divisions ensuring positive labour and community relations while ensuring efficient service delivery. The Deputy Fire Chief participates in an on-call rotation and acts as the Fire Chief when required.

As Deputy Fire Chief of Operations you will be responsible to:

• Set strategic direction along with the Fire Chief, and ensure professional standards for the functional areas under direction. Establish and monitor key performance indicators, and analyze and interpret data to provide information, explanations and justifications for recommendations and decisions.
• Develop short and long-term plans to maintain service excellence and thoroughly prepare for future forecasted needs, by monitoring financial, operational, technical and demographic factors and recommend the required departmental capital and operating resources.
• Operationalize the annual business plan/Fire Master Plan through the effective management of resources and programs, setting policies and standards in accordance with legislation and best practices.
• Ensure the work of each functional team meets quality and efficiency standards, especially related to bylaws and legislation in accordance with the Office of the Fire Marshal and associated best practices. Formulate and implement effective City-wide strategies to ensure corporate alignment.
• Responsible for development and administration of both operating and capital budgets along with maintaining legislative compliance.
• Responsible for setting overall direction and vision; coaching and guiding personnel; dealing with escalated performance management issues; and development of employees, including recruiting, training and professional development decisions.
• Represent the Department at external events, acts as a spokesperson at specific business and social events, activities and functions, supporting the values, goals and objectives of the City and Department.
• Ensure participation and cooperation of key stakeholders by collaborating and interacting with business leaders, community leaders, private sector interests and the general public. Makes presentations and participates in meetings, including Council committee meetings and public meetings. Acts as a point of reference for external media inquiries with regard to highly visible emergencies or incidents.

Qualifications

• Candidates will possess a degree or diploma in business/public administration (or related discipline) or have the equivalent combination of significant demonstrated experience along with completion of recognized fire service specific educational requirements.
• Preferred candidates are both strategic and critical thinkers with demonstrated leadership, managerial and change management skills.
• Candidates must be community minded individuals with significant knowledge and experience of modern, urban, firefighting techniques and methods; emergency response techniques; incident management system; and public safety theories and methods.
• Demonstrated knowledge and practical experience with Human/Labor Relations, the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, Occupational Health and Safety legislation, Section 21 Guidance notes and practices/processes.
• Candidate must possess excellent communication skills, conflict management and have demonstrated experience in a unionized municipal fire service environment.
• Successful candidates have highly developed risk management and decision making skills along with excellent verbal, written and presentation skills.
• Candidates must possess a valid "G" Class Ontario Driver's Licence in good standing.
• IMS 200 Certification or equivalent (ICS 200) is considered an asset. Subject to course availability, certification must be achieved within the first year of employment.
• As a condition of employment, applicants must submit a current Police Vulnerable Sector Check (dated within the past 3 months) from their local police service for approval by the Corporation prior to commencing employment.