Deputy Fire Chief - Administration & Community Safety

City of New Westminster•New Westminster, BC

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The City of New Westminster, a central hub in Metro Vancouver, provides urban services to over 92,000 residents and is known for its civic leadership and service delivery. New Westminster Fire & Rescue Services (NWFRS), one of British Columbia's oldest fire departments, is at the forefront of technology, fire suppression, medical care, dangerous goods response, and technical rescue, emphasizing diversity, honor, respect, and teamwork. The department offers employees work-life balance, competitive salaries, benefit plans, and professional development opportunities. NWFRS is seeking an accomplished fire service leader for the Deputy Fire Chief of Administration & Community Safety position, which is part of the exempt senior management team. This role requires broad knowledge in fire department and municipal management, supporting succession planning. The Deputy Fire Chief will be crucial in achieving the Fire Department’s and City’s goals, including promoting Inclusion, Diversity, Engagement, Reconciliation, and Innovation. Reporting to the Fire Chief, this position is accountable for high-level business functions supporting administrative, operational, technological programs, and emergency response, including Emergency Management. The Deputy Chief acts for the Fire Chief during absences and is available for rotational on-call duty shifts, with performance evaluated on leadership, management objectives, and reinforcement of the department's Mission, Vision, and Values.

Requirements

Advanced training in a related field of study plus ten years of progressive experience in a municipal fire service, or an equivalent level of knowledge and experience.
Demonstrated leadership experience including a certificate in Fire Service Leadership or Administration.
Legally entitled to work in Canada.
Possession of a valid B.C. Driver’s License with Class 3 endorsement.
NFPA 1021 Fire Officer III certification or equivalent.
Incident Command Level 300.
Sound supervisory experience as a Fire Officer or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience within the Fire Operations/Management field.
Experience in project management and delivery.
Demonstrated computer competency in related business and office suite software programs.
Demonstrated business writing competency including briefings, memorandums and reports.
Available for rotational after-hours on-call duty with a maximum emergency incident response time of 30 minutes from time of notification to on-scene.

Responsibilities

Supports and implements the vision and direction of the Fire Chief and New Westminster Fire & Rescue Services in a positive manner.
Supports the Fire Chief on human resources and labour relations matters including: grievance administration, applying corrective behaviours up to and including termination, union-management meetings, investigations, collective bargaining, performance management, and wellness and attendance management.
Supports emergency response and incident management through Incident Command System (ICS) role at the site level, or through Department Operations Centre (DOC) or Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) as required.
Provides reasoned and balanced advice, background information and briefing materials to a variety of stakeholders.
Maintains communication, ensuring the Fire Chief is apprised of operational developments that relate to the interests of NWFRS.
Serves as a participating member of assigned diverse boards, committees and organizations either within NWFRS, the City of New Westminster or relevant stakeholders, customers and the community at large.
Provides administrative and operational leadership to staff in service and delivery areas of fire administration, public safety and prevention, fire suppression, communications, fleet services and emergency management programs.
Takes a leadership role in managing employee performance and development.
Directs Fire Company Officers on matters related to daily operations, staffing, work assignments, training, motivation, coaching, performance evaluation and leadership.
Participates in recruitment, orientation and training of new staff in accordance with NWFRS policy and procedures.
Assumes a leadership and project management role as assigned on special projects. Ensures project accountability including: work plan development, continuous productivity, progress benchmarks and outcomes.
Prepares guidelines for work performance, expenditures and use of resources.
Serves as a role model for effective public participation and relationship building with community stakeholders.
Participates in strategizing and executing short and long term divisional and individual goals and objectives involving project, business and budget planning.
Participates in workplace investigations.
May be required to participate in the preparation and management of department finances.
Responds to high risk emergency incidents as required and where appropriate may assume incident command functions.
Monitors operational resource allocation including deployment of fire equipment and apparatus.
Ensures policies, procedures and standards are consistently applied and adhered to.
Builds relationships and ensures collaboration with other City departments regarding initiatives that may have multi-department involvement.
Provides operational leadership in the areas of public safety & prevention division, administrative and technological requirements/improvements, emergency operations; incident response and management; specialized teams, planning, logistics, infrastructure and capital programs.
Supports the Emergency Management Office and can serve in a senior role in the Emergency Operations Center when required.