Halifax spent more than $160,000 on the wrong kind of wildfire protective gear for firefighters

Halifax spent more than $160,000 on the wrong type of wildfire protective gear, and the union for municipal firefighters says the mix-up is just one example that the department is not properly preparing for wildfires.

In the aftermath of the Upper Tantallon wildfire in 2023 that destroyed 151 homes, Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency ordered a second set of wildland firefighting coveralls for most of its members. 

But about two years later, it was discovered in April that the new coveralls were intended for use in industrial settings where firefighters typically encounter short flashes of fire. They look almost identical to the correct ones but do not meet wildfire standards for working in sustained heat.

"There could be bad consequences from this gear. So we've been lucky that the wrong thing hasn't happened so far," said Brendan Meagher, president of the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association, last Friday.

Wearing the wrong gear in a wildfire setting presents a greater risk of heat exhaustion, Meagher said.

There is often little turnaround time between shifts during a major wildfire, he said, and having a second set of coveralls is a good idea because it enables members to switch to a second pair while their other set is being washed.

Due to the "scale of the request" in 2023, the fire department's regular vendor was not able to handle the order within the set timeline, a Halifax spokesperson said, and they found an alternative vendor.

The municipality spent about $167,000 on the coveralls and rolled them out to firefighters.

After the error was noticed and flagged as a safety complaint for Halifax Fire management, Meagher said it took weeks for the department to react. In mid-June, the municipality directed firefighters not to wear the 2023 coveralls, he said, and anyone left without any wildland gear would be issued new ones.

Municipal spokesperson Jake Fulton said in an email that Halifax Fire is looking for a way to make sure the 2023 coveralls "do not go to waste," like possibly sending them to other departments that may have a use for them.

"This was an unfortunate error that HRFE is working diligently to address. HRFE takes the use of municipal tax funds very seriously," Fulton said.

But now, Meagher said, they have noticed some of the older, proper wildfire coveralls have also reached an expiration date. He said he's concerned a situation could come up where only one person on a crew has the appropriate gear.

"Does that person go to the woods by themself and take equipment in? I would suggest absolutely not," Meagher said.

"And so we are left with that dilemma of going in and violating the directive — or watching loss increase that we could otherwise stop if we had the proper equipment."