A dozen members of Sackville Fire & Rescue turned in their pagers today at town hall and delivered a two-page letter outlining their grievances to Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Borne.
This brings the roster of Sackville volunteer firefighters to about 18 in a department where the normal complement is 43.
After Borne entered the council chamber where the firefighters had placed their pagers on a table, she asked Warktimes to leave on the grounds that this was a confidential, human resources (HR) matter.
But several firefighters indicated they were simply dropping off their pagers and submitting a letter and were not seeking a meeting with her at this point.
They did not provide a copy of their letter to Warktimes.
Dedicated firefighters
Firefighters wait to see CAO Jennifer Borne after their 9 a.m. arrival at town hall
The firefighters who turned in their pages have a combined total of more than 180 years of service:
- Capt. Don Fillmore — 40 years service
- Shawn Phinney — 24 years service
- Capt. Travis Estabrooks — 17 years service
- Lieut. Darrin Estabrooks — 17 years service
- Stevy Fillmore — 17 years service
- Travis Thurston — 16 years service
- Capt. Adam Stiles — 15 years service
- Joshua Estabrooks — 15 years service
- Laura Thurston — 9 years service
- Jill Hunt — 7 years service
- Jacob Estabrooks — 3 years service
- Jesse Estabrooks — 2 years service
Years of turmoil
Persistent troubles within Sackville Fire & Rescue first came to public attention in April 2021 when Warktimes published a story about the resignations of 17 firefighters over a five-year period.
At the time, firefighters were complaining about bullying, harassment and favouritism that had led to low morale within the department.
After Warktimes published a second story with more current and former firefighters airing their complaints, the town of Sackville hired a consulting firm to conduct a workplace assessment that has never been released to the public.
A year after posting the first stories about turmoil within the department, Warktimes reported the fire service was still in crisis “with not enough volunteers responding to emergency calls leaving fire trucks sometimes understaffed, slowing response times and potentially putting public safety and the safety of firefighters themselves at risk.”
New Brunswick’s Ombud sided with the town in 2022 after Warktimes sought release of the consultant’s report and a judge in the Court of King’s Bench also ruled it should remain a confidential personnel matter after Councillor Bruce Phinney supported by Warktimes sought its release in 2024. (At the time, Phinney submitted a sworn affidavit stating that nothing had changed within the department.)
In May 2024, Warktimes reported: “Nearly three years after consultants submitted a $31,500 report with 20 recommendations on how to end the turmoil in the Sackville Fire Department, multiple sources tell Warktimes that morale still remains low among volunteer firefighters.”
Last November, Fire Chief Craig Bowser told town council his understaffed department was facing record call volumes and that firefighters were “tiring.”
Warktimes has asked the town for comment, but has not yet heard back.
According to the town’s website, a closed-door council meeting has been called for 4 p.m. on Wednesday to deal with a human resources matter.
Omg we basically have no fire protection! This is unacceptable if this many firefighters have resigned there must be something wrong with the Fire Chief’s ability to lead. If the Chief resigns will the crew reinstate their positions? This is a life or death situation and immediate action has to be taken! Can the province install full time firefighters from other departments during this impasse? This is a top priority and must be fixed in 24 hours not sometime this week! We may have to look to our military to cover this situation. Mayor Black take control of this emergency!
As a former Deputy Mayor and Councillor who served for 16 plus years, I cant help but wounder how close the Town Administration, Mayor and Cluncillors have been working TOGETHER to correct the turmoil that has been getting so out of hand with the Fire Dept., not just a few days or weeks ago but for several months that now sees a huge number of dedicated firemen and women resign from the Fire Dept.
Not only as a tax payer but a truly concerned citizen this terrible upset must be corrected ASAP, not weeks. Hopefully a huge number of concerned Sackville and area residents will let the Town Administration, Mayor and Councillors realize that they must correct the problems that have caused the dedicated Fire Dept. members to resign.
How long has Bowser been chief? Is there any way to discipline him, even fire him? So, who, among the volunteer firefighters, is left? Who are the brave 18?
A closed door meeting Wednesday is too late; a meeting should have been held tonight/Monday night.
Because of low man power, we now will have to rely on Dorchester, Point du Bute and other outside services to provide Mutual Aid if anything happens. So how much will that cost Tantramar?
One would think that with the ‘consultation’ done that there would be changes. Since it’s obvious that it didn’t happen, this isn’t just a matter of morale, this is a matter of the town and the fire department obviously not taking the problems serious enough to do something about it.
This is beyond unacceptable, it’s borderline despicable and shame on the town and fire department for letting things get this far.
We need our fire department, not next week. Or the week after we need it. Now so they should fix it right away.
Congrats and hats off to the FF who decided that enough was enough. That’s where the heart of the community lies and certainly not in the office of the chief. Recently, which you may not be aware of, several FF who were placed on “suspension” by the chief were contacted by the cao and told their services were no longer required, via an internet ‘teams’ meeting or hand delivered note. No discussion was allowed. These same members were told quite some time ago that their ‘re-muster’ or return to active duty would be arranged by the chief. It never was. Despite requests from these same FF to get requalified, at no point were they contacted by the chief or his designate. The fact that these members, who had well over 100 years service time to the community were dismissed in the manner that they were, was exceptionally cruel and callous. Yet, despite all the turmoil and displays of incompetence, the chief has been allowed to keep his job. Why?
Speaking of the cao, wonder if she could explain to us taxpayers why the Director of Protective Services role that was advertised in April 2024 has fallen by the wayside. Word around council chambers was that despite several candidates being interviewed, none were deemed acceptable to her. Yet, recently it came to light that she is allegedly in the process of creating a new role specifically for her boyfriend to be the successful candidate, to act as a go-between the director role and the fire and police leadership. In similar fashion, word in the truck bays at the fire hall has it that the son of the fire chief will be the new deputy. So, that’s how it works to get hired by the town, is it? If you’re not a nepo baby or nepo consort, out of luck you are to get hired. It would appear that qualifications don’t matter.
The situation with the fire department should never have occurred. The accountability for failure rests with the cao, mayor and fire chief. The fact that the consultant’s report on the fire service was never released, speaks of a lack of transparency at all levels of staff and elected official. The inability or reluctance to correct the abhorrent incompetence at the fire hall by these officials, has placed us all at risk. That is not acceptable. Wonder if the chief could explain why Amherst Fire dept is called for back up/mutual aid, instead of the sister fire departments in the municipality? He knows the answer.
I call for the immediate resignation of the cao, mayor and fire chief and an investigation be commenced by the relevant departments of the provincial government, including the minister of local governance, to start. I refuse to be placed further in a situation potentially detrimental to my family and community, due to the inaction of those who not only were elected to serve us, but are paid to oversee the operations of the municipality. This matter reflects all of their inabilities to function in the roles which they currently have. Enough is enough.
4 months to polling day, when this council can be held accountable for the secrecy, muzzling of councillors and others, tax increases, tax holidays for rich developers, wasteful spending, pointless squabbling, and failure to fix things like our fire service.
Locals interested in good governance should be thinking now about offering themselves as candidates. Let’s have some choices!