Ai, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23,1977, PAGE 5 Will run for president in May Energe tic Ed Crouch is secretary for Ontario fire chiefs By BRIAN WINTER Staff Writer Whitby's energetic fire chief Ed Crouch is well known not only in Whitby, but throughout Ontario, in his capacity as secretary of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs. The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs has 580 members, representing more than 400 communities in the province. Membership is restricted to chiefs, deputy chiefs, platoon chiefs and representatives, from the Fire Manufacturers' Association, which is made up of manufacturers of fire fighting equipment. Chief Crouch has been a member of the association for six years, and secretary since 1974. His duties include re- cording ail minutes and pro- ceedings of the association, sending out notices, answering correspondenee and acting as custodian of the association's books and records. Chiéf Crôuch spends about 15 hours a week on association business, and makes about six trips a year to various parts of the province. Every two months he attends board meetings at the Airport Holiday Inn in Toronto and writes the association's news- letter, 600 copies of which are sent out to members. On a number of occasions he has made presentations of recommendations from the association. to the Solicitor General of Ontario. Last year, Chief Crouch was host chief of 1976 annual convention of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs and did all the arranging and pre- paratory work. "The members said it was one of the best they had ever been to, based not only on the fun, but the organization and co-operation of the mem- bers of the Whitby Fire Department, and the know- ledge gained from the seminars ýand workshops", says the chief. This year Chief Crouch is co-ordinator of programs for the 1977 convention to be held from May 8 to 11 at Sudbury. He is in charge of setting up the program, arranging for speakers and guests, and producing and mailing out 1,300 programs and letters, sent to municipal clerks and fire chiefs through- out Ontario. "I'm the go-between, re- presenting the association for any inquiries or business transactions from government or the general public", says Chief Crouch. Since the 1976 convention he has received and answered about 200 letters. Chief Crouch sees the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs as an important body, for it gives fire chiefs a voice at the provincial level and with insurance organizations, truck and equipment manu- facturers, and the Canadian Fire Chiefs' Association. "We are the most pro- gressive fire chiefs' association in Canada", he says. "We are recognized and accepted as a valuable voice of the fire ser- vice in Canada". Since 1974 the association, founded in Toronto in 1953, has brought fire chiefs closer together into an organization they can turn to for assistance, particularly in the case of volunteer fire chiefs, says Chief Crouch. The newsletter Chief Crouch writes informs chiefs throughout Ontario of what's taking place in the province and relates the exper- iences of other fire chiefs in various matters. One accomplishment of the association was the initiation in 1976 of a fire chiefs' management course at the Ontario Fire College in Gravenhurst. Chief Crouch attended the course in both January and November last year. On April 2, he will be one of the speakers at a one-day seminar on the Ontario Building Code and the pro- posed Ontario Fire Code, to 73 TOYOTA6 i CELICA radials, AM-FM (AOR 658) as is $1,275 * 72 M.G. MIDGET 33,000 miles, sharp car (AMB 877) cert. $1,375g 71 TOYOTA 1200 auto, 38,000 miles (DYX 200) cert. $995 84I" dSt. w RRADL ETJROTORS 668-154" ***.eseseseWeka be held by the association at the University of Waterloo. At the present time the association is deeply involv- ed in a number of critical issues regarding fire depart- ments, and is making repre- \sentations to the provincial government on these matters. One issue is the on-going debate regarding who should have the authority over fire safety matters under the Ontario Building Code. The problem seen by the fire chiefs' association, says Chief Crouch, is that fire prevention divisions could be eliminated from fire depart- ments -and turned over to municipalrbuilding or plan- ning departments. The association's posi- tion is that fire s4fety matters should definitely remain the responsibility of fire chiefs and their departments. The matter is still up in the air, awaiting a firm decision by the proper authorities in the Ontario Government. Chief Crouch is concerned that fire prevention andeduca- tion programs would be very minimal if taken away from the fire departments, which are directly concerned with fire fighting. He states that in the last six years Whitby's fire preyen- tion and education program has led to very low fire losses in residential and c'ommercial buildings. "The impact shows when you can extinguish a fire in a building and the loss stays in the neighbourhood of five to ten thousand dollars in basical- ly one room, rather than loss of the complete building", he says. Another area the fire chiefs' association is involved in is providing better protec- tion to firefighters who suffer from heart and lung ailments as a result of their work. Presently an in-depth study is being made through the Workmen's Compensation Board on the effects of fumes from new tabrics on the market - effects which are a result of their work. "The association wants to see fire fighters in the province receive proper compensation and protection similar to the industrial sector", says Chief Crouch. "There are problems of not getting full compensa- tion and it is not recognized that fire conditions could induce a heart attack". A third objective of the fire chiefs' association is to obtain a type of management team or association for fire chiefs and deputies. The Fire Departments Act of the province says the chief and deputy are excluded from the fire fighters union and therefore it becomes very difficult for two men to manage a department of 30 men in Whitby, 150 in Oshawa or 1,200 in Toronto, says Chief Crouch. or "There is no other organization that has two people to manage so many other people", he says. "The association wants bar- gaining rights and protective legislation concerning suspen- sions, discharges, etc. for all full-time fire chiefs, deputy chiefs, and any other full- time rank that may in future be excluded from the bargain- ing unit as defined in the Fire Departments Act of Ontario", says the chief. "The other men have all the protections of a union; we should have an offiéers' association similar to the police. It would be beneficial to the entire operation of the fire department", he says. After three active years as secretary of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, Chief Crouch will be seeking the president's position at the 1977 convention in Sudbury. "It's the type of job where you're not going to see your efforts produce immediate results", he says, "but through patience you can start to see what webelieve are the correct results of the programs we are MU 0 Ed Crouch, Secretary of the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs, stands beside a plaque bearing the association's coat of arms, which was presented to him for his work in hosting the 1976 annual convention. At the 1977 convention in Sudbury in May, Chief Crouch intends to run for president of the Association. Free Press Photo involved in". According to Chief Crouch, his main motivation for be-1 coming involved at more than iust the local level o the fire Brass Band, Whitby's award-winning Brass Band, has receivedmore honors. At the Kiwanis Music Festival, hýld this month at Lawrence Park Collegiate in1 Toronto, the band won first1 place, in its class, with a total1 score of 90 out of 100 points.î department the fire province"'. is "to try to better service in , the comes first The only other comrpetitor, Silverthorne Silver Band from Toronto, received 85 points out of 100. The . adjudicator, Dr. Charles Neilson, music direc- tor at the University of Minnesota, gave the Whitby Brass Band the highest score in this year's competition. MEN'S HAIRSTYLING Peter Barker D.T. HAIRCUTTING AND STYLING, Denture Therapist FOR MEN Whitby Plaza 111 Dundas St., West Whitby 668-6922 668-1464 Mon. - Fri. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 8½" PEPPERONI ONLY$1 .1 DUNDAS 668-3222> BELL WEST HOURS LYNES MON-THURS. r-NMp 11: 00a.m. -12 p.m. rDA S. 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