N.S. firefighter who died flagged safety issue with instructor: incident summary

New information shared with the family of a firefighter who was killed at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School in Waverley reveals that Skyler Blackie informed his instructor the expired fire extinguisher he was using had rust on it, but was told to use it anyway.

The revelation came this week after the Blackie family reached out to the provincial Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration for more information on the 28-year-old's case.

Blackie, a full-time firefighter with the Truro Fire Service, died in March 2019 when the expired extinguisher he was using exploded during a certification exam.

"That shouldn't have happened — ever," Blackie's sister Jessica Gillis told CBC's As It Happens.

A court case resulted in the school admitting in 2022 that it failed to perform routine inspections and keep adequate records. 

The Blackie family recently learned the training facility received 41 new safety recommendations as a result of a third-party review.

The Labour Department said 22 "high-risk activities" were noted by occupational health and safety officers, and the "Safety Branch continues to work with firefighters' school to achieve compliance."

The family has not received a full copy of the third-party review.

Gillis said the family requested more information this week and was sent an "incident summary." She shared that report with CBC News. It describes the incident in detail.

"Blackie successfully donned his equipment and chose the correct type of extinguisher. He observed some rust on the bottom of the extinguisher but was assured it was alright to use from the instructor," the summary said.

"However, when he charged the cylinder with propellant (compressed air), the bottom of the extinguisher blew out, and the top of the extinguisher struck him in the facial area, causing a fatal injury."

The summary said the extinguisher had been donated to the school by a shuttered Imperial Oil refinery. Its last annual inspection was dated 2014, and its last hydrostatic inspection was in 2004. 

It said both the manufacturer's specifications and National Fire Protection Association require hydrostatic testing at 12-year intervals. In this case, those tests were out of date by more than three years, the summary said.

"The person proctoring the certification was never made aware that the extinguisher had never been inspected by the staff person normally responsible to conduct such inspections," the summary said.