International

As have many fire departments in the UK and Canada recently, the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority has been in the news relative to allegations of institutional racism and sexism. However, when questioned by Lee Anderson, a member of parliament, the chair of the Authority, Rebecca Knox, was unable to answer some relatively simple questions about the decision to label her organization “institutionally racist.”

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A firefighter with the London Fire Brigade has been charged with voyeurism for secretly filming female colleagues as they showered at work. The firefighter, identified only as a 32-year old male, is also facing charges of sexually enticing girls under the age of 13.

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A report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services has concluded that bullying, harassment, and discrimination are widespread in the 44 fire service organizations in England. Titled Values and Culture in Fire and Rescue Services, the 59 page report reaches a blunt conclusion: “It is time for this behaviour to stop.”

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A Jamaica firefighter who held a one-man protest over a change in shifts has been suspended. Sergeant Leo Bennett held the protest yesterday, claiming that most of the firefighters in Jamaica prefer to continue working the 24-hour shifts they have been working since COVID began.

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Two members of an Ontario fire department are no longer with the department following allegations of sexual harassment that led to a civil lawsuit, and the resignation of the fire chief. Their departure appears to be associated with a civil suit filed earlier this year by two female firefighters from the Leduc Fire Department alleging they were exposed to systemic harassment, bullying and discrimination.

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The owners of a business in Bangladesh where 52 workers died in a fire have been arrested and charged with murder. The fire occurred in a juice factory last week in the town of Rupganj. Among the 52 fatalities were as many as 16 children, some as young as 11 years old.

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The Toronto District School Board has filed a $90 million lawsuit against the Toronto Fire Services and the Toronto Police Services Board claiming their failure to extinguish and properly overhaul a fire in 2019 led to the destruction of the York Memorial Collegiate Institute.

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The Supreme Court of British Columbia has upheld a decision by the British Columbia Labour Relations Board to uphold an arbitration award that ordered the reinstatement a captain who engaged in sexual activity while on duty… with an on-duty dispatcher… in the fire chief’s office… lying to investigators about it… only to discover that it was caught on surveillance video the chief had installed.

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Allegations of sexual misconduct against twenty French firefighters have sparked nation-wide protests by feminist groups seeking a change to the age of consent law. The case dates back to 2008 when the victim claims she was assaulted over a two-year period when she was between 13 and 15-years old.

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Nova Scotia's Occupational Health and Safety Division has cited the Nova Scotia Firefighting School with two charges in connection with the death of a firefighter last year. Truro firefighter Skyler Blackie died on March 20, 2019, eleven days after he was injured in an explosion at the Nova Scotia Firefighting School.

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A Hong Kong firefighter has been arrested following a collision between an aerial device and a bicyclist. The unidentified firefighter was driving the truck last Sunday, December 6, when it veered off the road and into a guard rail.

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Six Paris firefighters who battled the Notre Dame Cathedral fire last month are facing possible criminal rape charges following an incident involving a 20-year old Scandinavian tourist last weekend. The victim met an off-duty Paris firefighter in a bar. She told police she had consensual sex with the firefighter at the firehouse, but was later raped by the others.

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Sometimes it is good to know that it is not just US. Of course, who we define as "US" is sometimes a tricky matter. Sometimes "US" is the fire service in general, so when there is a YCMTSU case involving the police, it reminds us that it's not just us firefighters.

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A Chinese man whose wife and three children were killed in an arson fire last June, is suing to obtain additional information about whether firefighters mishandled the fire. Lin Shengbin is seeking a court order from a district court in Hangzhou into the June 22, 2017 fire that killed his wife, Zhu Xiaozhen and three children.

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