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Pender Island Fire Rescue
Community Needs Assessment

Almost 30 years ago, Pender Island Fire Rescue (PIFR) consisted of one fire hall, 1 fire truck and a van. In those early days, we averaged 2 calls a month. Now, we manage over 300 emergency calls a year and have been able to recruit 4 full-time, 2 part-time and 25 paid-on-call firefighters/first responders. Today, the Pender Islands have 9 emergency response vehicles including 3 fire engines, 1 water tanker, 3 rescue trucks, 1 command vehicle and 1 fire prevention truck. By strategically placing equipment at our 3 halls, we have optimized emergency response and service coverage – enhancing community safety and meeting key insurance standards that are helping homeowners benefit from potentially lower insurance rates.

Your voice matters. Help shape the future of Pender Island Fire Rescue by sharing your feedback – let us know where we are meeting your needs and any enhancements you can think of. Your insights are essential to enhancing our services and how we deliver them.

Thank you for taking a moment of your time to complete this quick survey – your input makes a real difference.


o Personal information will not be collected.
o Participation from full-time, seasonal, and part-time residents is appreciated.
o If your household includes several members, we’d appreciate hearing from them individually via individual electronic devices.
o Survey results will be shared with the community.
Estimated time to complete is less than 10 minutes.

DEMOGRAPHICS
We collect this information to better understand how service needs vary based on factors like gender, age, household composition, and housing type. By identifying which groups need which services, we can plan more effectively and ensure our programs are responsive, inclusive, and well-targeted.
1.Your age:
2.Are you on Pender Island:
3.Location of current residence:
4.If you reside on North or South Pender Island, how long have you been a resident?
5.Household size:
6.Where do you get information about Pender Island Fire Rescue? (check all that apply)
7.Have you ever called 911 to reach Pender Island Fire Rescue?
8.If you required assistance from Pender Island Fire Rescue, what services would you expect they could provide? (check all that apply):
9.Pender Island Fire Rescue’s professional standards of training, equipment inventory, staffing configuration, and excellent response times, have earned North and South Pender Island a good insurance grade level with Fire Underwriters, which results in affordable insurance premiums for householders. How important is it to you that Pender Island Fire Rescue continues to provide its current level of service?
10.Pender Island Fire Rescue currently offers a service to dispose of expired propane tanks. Do you consider this an important service to the community?
11.Are you aware that Pender Island Fire Rescue provides public fire safety inspections?
12.Do you consider fire safety inspections an important service?
13.Did you know that Pender Island Fire Rescue has a Training Facility that allows us to train for the following scenarios: fire, vehicle rescue, cliff and embankment rescue, pet/animal rescue, hazardous materials incidents, medical response, confined space rescues, wildfire training and provides fire service instruction and training for other Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island fire departments?
14.Do you consider the Training Facility to be a valuable attribute to Pender Island Fire Rescue?
15.Are you aware that Pender Island Fire Rescue runs a Gulf Islands Fire/Rescue Cadet Camp for youth every two years? Endorsed by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs, this 6-day camp has grown into one of the most respected camps of its kind in Canada. Totaling over 100 hours of rigorous training, the cadets (ages 15 to 18) reach new levels of skill, confidence, self-esteem, fitness, and teamwork through hands-on instruction in structure fires, auto extrication, high angle rope rescue, search and rescue, medical first response and more.
16.Do you consider this youth training program a valuable initiative?
17.Are you aware of the blended organizational structure of Pender Island Fire Rescue? It is comprised of a career Fire Chief, Assistant Chief, 2 full time fire officers, and 2 part time firefighters. They are supported by 25 paid on-call, professional firefighters - residents of Pender Island who are paid an hourly rate for responding to emergency calls 24 hours a day.
18.Are you satisfied that the above organizational structure adequately serves our community?
19.How would you describe Pender Island Fire Rescue’s level of service to our community?
20.Did you know that Pender Island Fire Rescue is governed by the Pender Islands Fire Protection Society (PIFPS)?
Note: The Society is an elected Board of Directors, who are residents and property owners of North and South Pender Island.
21.Do you have any additional comments?