Kelowna Professional Fire Fighters Association

Firefighting was officially classified as a Group 1 carcinogen (2023) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

That’s the highest risk level—on par with asbestos, diesel exhaust, benzene, PAHs, soot, sleep deprivation — all exposures in the job.

Proper decontamination, PPE, and Early detection saves lives!!

Tailored health screening programs mean better survival rates, less heartbreak for families, and reduced treatment costs.

Firefighters shouldn’t have to fight for care. Let’s act before it’s too late.

There are no words that can help…. As mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters… simply as a humans, we feel these loses for our communities.

We hope for the strength of the Vancouver community and for our fellow brothers and sister first responders after such a tragedy .

It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the passing of Retired Captain Terry Britton, a dedicated firefighter, mentor, and community leader. Terry served over 30 years with the Kelowna Fire Department, and even after retiring, his commitment to the KFD never wavered. He played a vital role in establishing the KFD Honour Guard, dedicating countless hours to training, mentoring new recruits, and upholding the traditions of our profession.

Beyond the fire service, Terry’s passion for his community was evident in everything he did. He spent 40 years as a volunteer with the Okanagan Sun and served as ski patrol with Big White, always giving his time to help others. His kindness, leadership, and dedication left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

Our deepest condolences to his wife, Sheila, and the Britton family and friends. Terry’s presence will be deeply missed, but his legacy will live on in the hearts of those he inspired.

Rest easy, Captain. We’ll take it from here.

The Kelowna Professional Firefighters Association Local 953 is proud to endorse Loyal Wooldridge for Kelowna Central MLA.

Loyal has served as a member of Kelowna City Council and has supported firefighter issues. We support those that support us and public safety.

We’re proud to announce that Kelowna Firefighters are the first in our municipality and first municipality in Canada to complete the e-learning course, a powerful initiative led by Canadian Country Music Legend Paul Brandt!

Thanks to the support of , our team has been trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking—a growing and deeply concerning issue here in Canada.

We encourage you take the free e-learning module found on the Not In My City website.

Together, we can make a difference!🌼

In a 4-2 win over D shift, A Shift wins the 2024 shift cup.

We are proud of our Firefighters Bo and Scott for personally delivering a truck full of fire fighting gear for Firefighter Aid Ukraine in Edmonton.

We wish all our brothers and sisters around the world to stay safe and be strong.

Big thank you to Bo Kutsiuruba and Scott Graver, who met with our Project Director Kevin on Saturday at the warehouse to deliver donations from the fire departments in Big White, Vernon, and Kelowna. Really appreciate you guys making the drive and for collecting all these much-needed pieces of gear and equipment!!

“President Schierling has expressed concern over the increasing number of cancer diagnoses among members due to on-the-job exposures and has urged the provincial government to take further action. BC ranks 4th in the country with 18 cancers recognized by the BC Workers Compensation Act. See Summary of Provincial Presumptive Coverage. The BCPFFA will seek to enhance presumptive cancer coverage under the BC Workers Compensation Act to align with the rest of the country and amend some cumulative periods of various cancers“

To safely and effectively fight fires the NFPA recommends initial alarm assignment (amount of FF’s initially paged out by dispatch to respond) :

43 FF’s for high rise - not meeting expectations

28 FF’s for garden apartment - not meeting expectations

15 FF’s for single family residential - meeting expectations. *8 FF’s left to protect city until call backs arrive*

Committing to a growth plan, does it include growth of appropriate safe staffing levels?

Safe staffing levels for 4 story Garden-style Apartments have an initial alarm assignment of 28 firefighters.

The Kelowna Fire Department only guarantees 23 Firefighters on duty 24hours a day, 7 days a week.

The Kelowna Professional Firefighters Association would like to give a shout out to a very good friend of our association, Mr. Pavneet Singh.

He is a businessman in the Kelowna area and has supported our Charitable Society with sponsorship as well as supporting our firefighters with food during the Wildfire Season, as well as any in the community who needed a meal.

Mr. Singh is running for the BCUP Kelowna/Lake Country riding in hopes of becoming the nominee for BCUP in the next provincial election. With his passion for the community, we are very pleased Mr. Singh has let his name stand in hopes to serve his community an champion the issues for Kelowna/Lake Country in Victoria.

We wish you all the best in your campaign Mr. Pavneet Singh.

Our hearts go out to his family friends and fellow Mounties.

Const. Frederick "Rick" O'Brien