Whitehorse firefighters have been performing illegal rescues

Whitehorse's fire chief was before city council on Monday night, offering a surprising revelation — firefighters are regularly in violation of city bylaws when saving lives.

"I'd only be speculating if I tried to ascertain why this was not brought forward a number of years ago," said chief Kevin Lyslo.

He said the problem is that the city's Emergency Service Bylaw is out of date and does not accurately reflect the true nature of a firefighter's job in 2016 — when they're as likely to be pulling someone from icy water, as from a fire.

"It does have some legality issues," Lyslo said.

"We've gone from basically fire departments that just respond to fires. Now, we respond to all kinds of technical rescues."

That includes ice and water rescues, "confined space rescues" (for example, from an elevator), or even retrieving someone from atop a cell tower.

"People get stuck as they do their work up on those, and they need to be rescued," Lyslo said.

An 'urgent priority'

The fire department wants the bylaw amended to include authorization for such rescues.

"In the absence of a written mandate, the Fire Department could be seen as conducting these rescues illegally, potentially putting administration and Council at considerable legal and financial risk," says a city staff report.

The report says the amendment should be considered an "urgent priority" for city council.

"We want to make sure our people are safe where they are, what they're doing, and also protected as they go out and do their jobs properly," Lyslo said. 

A city official says if council approves it, the amendment could be in place by the end of June.