Who We Are
Dave Mitchell and Associates Ltd. is aBC company established in 2000 thatoffers consulting services for all aspectsof public safety operations. Our client
list includes fire departments andgovernments at the provincial,territorial, regional and municipal levels
in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario,
the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Our firm is independent and is notaffiliated with any technology, apparatus
or other product vendors.

DAVE MITCHELL &ASSOCIATES LTD.
 dispatcher recruitment and training occupational health and safetyreviews
organizational reviews and strategicplanning
executive coaching
training including training centre
reviews
inspections and audits
technical writing
disaster recovery/business
continuity plans

Fire ServiceReviews Regional Districts

Our services include: master fire plans fleet analysis
 fire hall location studies
 fire services reviews
 GIS analysis
 governance and bylaw reviews
 executive recruitment
 quality assurance programs technology procurement,

implementation and support
 Computer Aided Dispatch Record Management Systems
 Mobile Communications including
mobile workstations
 Fire Station Alerting planning, assessment andimplementation of 9-1-1 systems
 public safety voice and data radiosystems reviews
 communication centre design

DAVE MITCHELL &ASSOCIATES LTD.
P.O. Box 64618
RPO Como LakeCoquitlam, BCV3J 7V7
Phone: 604-812-8951
Fax: 604-552-8951
E-mail: dwmitchell@telus.net

Tel: 604 812 8951

Fire Service Reviews Regional Districts
Why is it needed?
The rules, regulations andrequirements governing fire services
have become increasingly demanding
over time. Fire fighters face aninherently risky work place, andstandards regarding training,
occupational health & safety,equipment, deployment and fireground management have beensignificantly enhanced to help mitigatethat risk – and potential liability.
Fire services, however, tend to groworganically over time. Unlike police
and ambulance, fire services are notprovincially mandated: they are only
created when local taxpayers agree
that a service should be established.
For Regional Districts, this often
means that as many as a dozen or
more local fire suppression areas may
have been established, typicallycreated over a decade or two.
Central oversight and control is often
a challenge, and managing budgetarypressures and ensuring proper
standards are being met can be anissue.

What does a Fire Service
Review entail?
A Fire Services Review involves aground up review of how the existing
fire services are organized, managed,taxed and operating. Depending on
the circumstances (as each review is
tailored to meet the client’s needs), it
can include:
1. A review of the underlying bylaws
which govern the fire services,including: Establishment Bylaws
 Governance Bylaws
 Operational Criteria Bylaws
 Automatic/Mutual Aid Bylaws
 First Medical Responder Bylaws
2. A review of the governance andtaxation structure. This typically
includes: A review of the governancestructure and its operation
 Facilitations with the principal
stakeholder groups A review of tax levels, budgets
and financial pressures on thefire services
 Benchmarking against otherRegional Districts who provide
similar or comparable services
 A review of the occupational
health & safety structures inplace for the fire services.

3. A review of the principal
operational challenges, including: Operational Guidelines Mutual Aid and Automatic Aidagreements Training Levels and Standards
 Recruitment and Retention
 Interoperability issues
 Communications and Dispatch
 Fire Prevention and Public
Education programs Apparatus andCommunications Equipmentand Systems
 Response Time Analysis
A fire services review is a critical step
in updating and modernizing theoperation and administration ofregional fire services. It will help
ensure that current standards arebeing met, and that fire fighters areoperating safely and effectively, whileproviding direction for future
development.