Duane Hicks
Bringing 25 years of experience with the Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service to the table, Frank Sheppard is the new fire chief and emergency management co-ordinator for the Town of Fort Frances.
Chief Sheppard, who has been acting as chief on an interim basis since Gerry Armstrong retired at the end of last year, said he has hit the ground running.
“There’s going to be some challenges in the next couple years,” he noted in an interview yesterday.
“We’re right in the middle of a restructuring, and it’s going to be a pretty interesting challenge,” he conceded.
“We have the opportunity to move to a new response model—how we function and how the place operates,” Chief Sheppard added.
“There’s obviously been some issues that I’ve had with what we’ve done in the past that I would like to change.”
Chief Sheppard stressed the level of service provided now will be maintained, but how work is done and tasks are completed will be reorganized.
He noted he has a few distinct goals, both short- and long-term.
“We’ve had a lot of situations where we haven’t necessarily been as well prepared as we could have been,” Chief Sheppard remarked.
“Specifically, I have been here 25 years and we still don’t really know all of the risk and all of the hazards that are here in relationship to Abitibi.
“As of the beginning of April, we’re going to start a pretty significant identification and pre-planning project there and also in relationship to the downtown core—just based on building proximity and some of those things,” he noted.
For a medium-term goal, Chief Sheppard said a sustainability plan needs to be developed.
“When we go to the personnel level that we are looking to develop, we’ll have a plan that allows that to be sustainable into the future,” he said.
And for the long-term, Chief Sheppard said there’s areas where the force isn’t as developed as well as it should be, such as hazardous material response, and that should be enhanced.
Speaking more generally, Chief Sheppard is optimistic about the future.
“There’s a lot of real positive things that I can see—very good staff here, and from my dealings so far, council is very supportive and willing to work with us,” he said.
“Administration’s been wonderful to this point, and I don’t really see it changing.
“I am looking forward to it.”
Chief Sheppard has spent the last 25 years with the local fire department. In that time, he’s provided fire science and technical rescue instruction for the Ontario Fire College, been local president of the Professional Fire Fighters Association, and most recently been chief of Operations and Training.
Comparing his role as fire chief to his previous one, Chief Sheppard said the administrative responsibilities have increased, as has his involvement in emergency management.
“[Emergency management] is a new duty that I am going to have a bit of a learning curve on, but I don’t think it’s anything that’s too difficult,” he reasoned.
“But there will be some changes in how we deliver that service, and probably a little more activity by group members, and a little more involvement, so it’s not all resting on one set of shoulders,” he stressed.
“We are confident that Frank will continue to provide our community with safe and effective fire protection, prevention, and education services,” the town said in a statement announcing the appointment of the new fire chief.
Chief Sheppard graduated from the Fire Protection Technology program at the Ontario Fire College and is provincially-certified as a company officer, fire prevention officer, and training officer.
He will be graduating from Bemidji State University this spring with a Bachelor of Science degree in Career and Technical Education, and currently is working towards a Master of Science degree with an emphasis in management.
