Features
Comment: Where’s that crystal ball at?

What happens when life as we know it is turned on its head by the most unexpected? The fire service prepares for exactly this scenario, but it is only human to crave knowledge of the outcome. Sureness seems hard to come by these days. 

Pre-covid, life and its lemony curveballs were standard, but in many senses, it was business as usual — stable, predictable, with a certain air of expectations you could count on. 

Consider that the longest running bull-market in S&P 500 stock history ran from March 9, 2009 to March 9, 2019, representing a 330 per cent rise over a 10-year period, reported Investopedia. Quite the hot streak. This is not to say the global economy was on fire, in fact 2019 marked a slowdown in global growth.(Not the greatest precipice from which to launch a worldwide pandemic). And now, labour shortages, inflation and supply chain issues hinder businesses of all stripes, and certainly fire truck manufacturers, whom I bet would love a crystal ball on longer term parts pricing and availability. These factors contribute to a sense of instability. 

The very real headwinds of recruitment and retention and a second historic year of wildfires adds to this sense of unraveling. The phrase “extreme weather events” is now common vernacular. Did life really feel more predictable before covid and we have yet to settle back into a less volatile place? History is bookmarked by large events causing worldwide upheaval, but we forget the pain by the time we are faced with another because we enter a period of seemingly relative stability. We have not hit this merry-go-round yet. It’s still a bit of a tilt-a-whirl, but with no end in sight. 

In reality, predictive modelling was very much in tune with what has happened in the world. A pandemic was due at some point, and climate change is nothing new. Sitting in our post-pandemic world, we have the challenge of how we will prepare by prediction for the wildfires, floods, hurricanes and other seismic events alongside increasing costs of everything and attrition issues. Despite our spidey senses, we are in a place of reaction.

Without a crystal ball into this chaotic future, we need to move away from knee-jerk government responses, harness collective intentions informed by the experience based expertise of many first responders, and get funding, legislation and personal efforts aligned. But where will the money come from? How careful will our governments be to allocate funds to where they will make the most impact? Will they listen to the lobbying and advice of Fire’s national and provincial associations; the fire chiefs?

Monumental change happens when a collective vision collides with collective action. And that change can be the thing that brings not only a sense of stability, but a spirit of optimism, which is one thing our world could do with a little more of.