In August 2024, the BC government changed the Building Code to permit single-stairwell residential buildings up to six storeys, ahead of the long-standing national code consensus process that exists to help identify safety trade-offs like this one before they become law.

In September 2025, Victoria Council voted 7–2 to direct staff to look at implementation. Fire Chief Dan Atkinson raised concerns on the record at the time, saying the process was moving quickly and involved limited consultation — something candidates may want to weigh in on.

Independent Risk Rating: BC’s own risk consultant, Jensen Hughes, scored egress construction failure at 16 and maintenance failure at 12; both rated “unacceptable” on the province’s 10–20 risk matrix.

In practice, a single stairwell means residents trying to escape a fire and firefighters trying to advance toward it are forced to share the same narrow path at the same time. It also removes a fallback option: ground ladders aren't viable above the third floor, so aerial apparatus becomes the only way to reach anyone trapped above that height — the same equipment Local 730 is already stretched thin on (see Issue 4).

Other BC communities have reached a different conclusion. West Kelowna's Council rejected single-stair designs city-wide on the recommendation of its own fire chief. Burnaby's Council passed a motion calling on the Union of BC Municipalities to press the province to reconsider the single-exit change.

Local 730 is not opposed to solving the housing crisis. The IAFF's national position is that all housing must be safe housing — for residents and firefighters alike — and that removing a second exit isn't an easy trade-off to make for more units.

On July 11, 2024, a paramedic was kicked in the face on Pandora Avenue while treating a patient. Firefighters on scene grabbed axes to form a physical barrier around the crew while a crowd of roughly 60 agitated bystanders gathered before police could arrive.

Police Escort Delays: Incidents that may turn violent require police to escort Fire and Ambulance — delays that put patients waiting for care at greater risk. Victoria needs a real local plan so our crews aren't left waiting on police before they can help.

That's not an abstract union concern. It's a direct, acknowledged cost to public safety for anyone who calls 911 in that neighbourhood. Our members are regularly asked to enter locations, situations, and buildings where they don't feel safe due to street disorder — and that risk doesn't end when the crowd on Pandora Avenue does.

This kind of incident is also not unique to Victoria. An IAFF survey of 117 affiliates found that 13% reported violence at structure fires in the past five years, rising to 40% for medical calls — and the union believes the real number is higher because most incidents go unreported.

The pattern was serious enough to drive federal action. Bill C-14 received Royal Assent on June 15, 2026, and now requires courts to treat a victim's on-duty first-responder status as an aggravating factor at sentencing — a change driven partly by attacks on crews in Winnipeg and Saskatoon. A second bill, S-233, is still before Parliament and would add further protections.

Victoria has its own version of this story already on the record on Pandora Avenue, and as the IAFF survey suggests, the real number of these types of incidents is likely higher due to underreporting.

The scale of the mental health crisis facing BC's first responders isn't something Local 730 is asserting alone — it's documented in the province's own record.

Psychological-only injury claims among BC workers have risen five-fold since 2018, with the increase concentrated in the public safety sector. Fire and police personnel experience occupational stress injuries — including anxiety, depression, and trauma — at four times the rate of the general population.

BC does have a mental health presumption under the Workers Compensation Act, meaning first responders diagnosed with a psychological injury can receive faster access to treatment and compensation. But a presumption is reactive by design: it helps after someone is already hurt.

Evidence-based proactive tools exist and have shown real results, but remain underfunded relative to the size of the problem and depend on ad hoc advocacy rather than dependable, ongoing investment.

Victoria firefighters sit on the sharpest edge of this provincial trend. The department responded to 2,381 overdose and poisoning calls in 2024, the third-highest volume of any BC community behind Vancouver and Surrey — exactly the kind of repeated trauma exposure the province's own data describes.

That's the same pattern playing out provincially, just closer to home: real acknowledgment of the problem without yet the sustained, dedicated investment needed to fully address it.

NFPA 1710 sets the recognized North American standard for fighting a fire in a building whose highest floor is more than 75 feet above grade: a minimum 42-member full-alarm response. This is because high-rise fires require simultaneous, separate teams for fire attack, search, stairwell evacuation, lobby command, and rapid intervention — tasks that a standard response force cannot cover.

The standard also calls for a minimum four-person crew on ladder and aerial companies, a position jointly held by the IAFF and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and backed by NIST research showing that four-person crews complete critical fireground tasks 30% faster, and IAFF's own data showing they rescue victims up to 80% faster than smaller crews.

The Reality: Victoria Fire Department shift staffing dropped to 19 roughly one-third of the past 12 months.

Staffing Ladder Companies: NFPA (the U.S.-based National Fire Protection Association, whose fire safety standards are widely adopted across North America) set the standard staffing of Ariel ladder truck at 4 firefighters. The IAFF and the International Association of Fire Chiefs both supported that by recognizing a four-person minimum crew for aerial ladder trucks as the standard. In Victoria, to keep other engines running during staffing dips, the ladder truck crew was reduced to two firefighters more than 33% of the time.

This is unfolding at the exact moment Victoria's skyline is changing. The 24-storey Hudson District tower, a 29-storey downtown proposal, and 20- to 23-storey towers approved for Vic West mean more residents are living above the height where NFPA 1710's high-rise guidance applies more than ever before.

It also connects directly to Issue 1. Single-stair buildings remove the interior fallback option and put even more weight on a reliable aerial response.

Victoria is actively narrowing travel lanes on Cook Street and throughout Victoria. While design and planning Local 730 were not directly consulted, meaning operating feedback from the people driving these vehicles was missing.

Pandora Precedent: On the 2017 Pandora Avenue bike corridor, lanes were built at 3.0 metres, narrower than BC Transit's recommended 3.3 metres, forcing large vehicles to straddle lanes.

Pull-Over Clearances: Current corridor designs raise serious questions regarding where civilian vehicles can safely pull over when sirens approach without blocking the entire roadway.

Cyclist Safety Matters: Protected cycling networks offer recognized safety benefits; the issue is ensuring frontline emergency operational realities are integrated into design and implementation.

Victoria Harbour holds Transport Canada’s certified water airport classification, averaging roughly 100 flight movements daily in built-up urban waters. Yet fire service coverage is covered by a single vessel operating out of land-based stations without a dedicated full-time marine crew.

Limited Bridge Crossings: Vic West connects to the rest of Victoria via only two vehicular crossings,: the Bay Street (Point Ellice) Bridge, the site of the deadly 1896 bridge collapse.

Seismic Vulnerability: The City of Victoria's own hazard assessment puts the odds of a damaging earthquake in the next 50 years at one in three — and Vic West's only link to the rest of the city is a single bridge that could be knocked out when it happens.

Covering our bases: It makes sense to consider further service coverage across the bridge.