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Ottawa has a new man in charge of fighting fires.
On Monday, the city named Gerry Pingitore, a nearly four-decade veteran firefighter, as the new chief of Ottawa Fire Services. He replaces John de Hooge, who retired a month ago after five years in the job.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, Pingitore says his priority is attending to the health — mental and physical — of the approximately 1,500 men and women, both full-time and volunteers, under his command.
The mental health area is evolving especially in the area of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), he says, pointing out that it’s not necessarily a matter of today’s firefighter being exposed to greater stresses than previous generations but more a matter of the increased recognition of the problems that can arise from too much unrelieved stress.
“In my day you wouldn’t even talk about it if something was bothering you. You just had to deal with it, lock it up inside,” Pingitore says, adding that he wants to find those methods and treatments that can best help firefighters deal with the stresses of the job.
“We’ve invested too much in training our personnel, so helping them maintain mental health is a cost-effect way to help them stay healthy, physically and mentally.”
Pingitore, 58, got his start as a firefighter 37 year ago when he joined a small fire department in West Montreal. He moved to Ottawa in 1979 when the City of Nepean hired a batch of new firefighters when it built a fire station in Barrhaven.
Over the next 22 years he climbed the ranks of the service until, in 2001, when the municipalities that had comprised the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton amalgamated to form the City of Ottawa.
The various fire departments were also brought together, and Pingitore was appointed as one of the rural sector chiefs. He served in that position until 2011 when he became an assistant deputy chief and was placed in charge of the department’s dispatch and communications services and management of the fleet and fire stations.
A year later he was appointed one of three deputy chiefs, overseeing rural and urban operations and special operations. He assumed the acting chief’s role when De Hooge retired.
Pingitore said he intends to maintain and extend many of the policies of his predecessor, including focusing on mental health issues, new technology, and bringing more women and members of minority groups into the department without, he emphasizes, lowering the standards that need to be met to be a firefighter.
He acknowledged that the fire department’s ranks have traditionally been filled, in the main, by a particular demographic group — young white males — but he wants to expand beyond that group to better reflect the diversity of the city.
“We’d certainty love to have different and diverse groups apply, helping them with the application process and at least getting them interested so that they know what requirements they need attain. The standards are maintained. It’s just we’d like to get more people interested.”
He also wants to ensure that his fire department keeps its accreditation as one of North America’s top-notch fire and emergency response agencies.
The U.S.-based Commission for Fire Accreditation International examines how fire departments and emergency services do fulfil their tasks and grants them accreditation if they meet certain standards of excellence. Only 196 fire and emergency service agencies enjoy this accreditation, including seven Canadian fire departments, of which Ottawa is one. The CFAI examines departments ever few years to ensure they deserve to keep their accreditation.
“This is certainly one of many goals. When they come back we want to be re-accredited, so we have to make sure we’ve kept up our standards and even improved in some areas they recommended,” Pingitore said.
He says he’ll be meeting with department managers over the next few weeks to work out priority areas and a new strategic plan.
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
On Monday, the city named Gerry Pingitore, a nearly four-decade veteran firefighter, as the new chief of Ottawa Fire Services. He replaces John de Hooge, who retired a month ago after five years in the job.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, Pingitore says his priority is attending to the health — mental and physical — of the approximately 1,500 men and women, both full-time and volunteers, under his command.
The mental health area is evolving especially in the area of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), he says, pointing out that it’s not necessarily a matter of today’s firefighter being exposed to greater stresses than previous generations but more a matter of the increased recognition of the problems that can arise from too much unrelieved stress.
“In my day you wouldn’t even talk about it if something was bothering you. You just had to deal with it, lock it up inside,” Pingitore says, adding that he wants to find those methods and treatments that can best help firefighters deal with the stresses of the job.
“We’ve invested too much in training our personnel, so helping them maintain mental health is a cost-effect way to help them stay healthy, physically and mentally.”
Pingitore, 58, got his start as a firefighter 37 year ago when he joined a small fire department in West Montreal. He moved to Ottawa in 1979 when the City of Nepean hired a batch of new firefighters when it built a fire station in Barrhaven.
Over the next 22 years he climbed the ranks of the service until, in 2001, when the municipalities that had comprised the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton amalgamated to form the City of Ottawa.
The various fire departments were also brought together, and Pingitore was appointed as one of the rural sector chiefs. He served in that position until 2011 when he became an assistant deputy chief and was placed in charge of the department’s dispatch and communications services and management of the fleet and fire stations.
A year later he was appointed one of three deputy chiefs, overseeing rural and urban operations and special operations. He assumed the acting chief’s role when De Hooge retired.
Pingitore said he intends to maintain and extend many of the policies of his predecessor, including focusing on mental health issues, new technology, and bringing more women and members of minority groups into the department without, he emphasizes, lowering the standards that need to be met to be a firefighter.
He acknowledged that the fire department’s ranks have traditionally been filled, in the main, by a particular demographic group — young white males — but he wants to expand beyond that group to better reflect the diversity of the city.
“We’d certainty love to have different and diverse groups apply, helping them with the application process and at least getting them interested so that they know what requirements they need attain. The standards are maintained. It’s just we’d like to get more people interested.”
He also wants to ensure that his fire department keeps its accreditation as one of North America’s top-notch fire and emergency response agencies.
The U.S.-based Commission for Fire Accreditation International examines how fire departments and emergency services do fulfil their tasks and grants them accreditation if they meet certain standards of excellence. Only 196 fire and emergency service agencies enjoy this accreditation, including seven Canadian fire departments, of which Ottawa is one. The CFAI examines departments ever few years to ensure they deserve to keep their accreditation.
“This is certainly one of many goals. When they come back we want to be re-accredited, so we have to make sure we’ve kept up our standards and even improved in some areas they recommended,” Pingitore said.
He says he’ll be meeting with department managers over the next few weeks to work out priority areas and a new strategic plan.
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
