Changes are coming when it comes to Ontario's firefighters.
North Perth Fire Chief Ed Smith says proposed changes to the Fire Protection and Prevention Act will affect all the province's fire fighters.
"There will be mandatory training for fire fighters whether you're full time or volunteer, and I will not argue that," he says. "Some people it maybe doesn't sit that well with, but in general, when our guys, our fire fighters go out the door, I want them to be the best prepared they can be for what they're dealing with."
Chief Smith says the mandatory training will affect the budget for municipal fire stations, but this is a necessary measure to ensure fire fighter's safety and abilities in any given situation province-wide. The chief also notes the fire fighters doing the training now give up a lot of their time to perform the exercises.
"Eventually they have to be reimbursed a certain amount for it, you can only do the volunteer thing so much," he says. "They're committed, they're there to serve their community because that's what they want to do, but you can only ask so much of them, and it will eventually affect the budget a certain amount."
