Webinars
Fire and Emergency Policy Forward Series: Advancing Critical Issues and Finding Solutions
June 16, 2023 at 11:00am

Addressing complex policy issues in the fire service requires our finest thought. Solutions and great ideas are often in hidden in the field. The Policy Forward Series 2023, brought to you by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and the Fire Fighting in Canada, is a 3-part panel discussion that gathers fire service leaders and interested individuals from across Canada to address pressing challenges in the fire service.

The conversation is designed to get at the root of a current critical issues, challenges, and potential solutions. After hearing from the discussants, attendees will be invited to join as a collective dialogue, with the insights gleaned collected and reflected back by the organizers as a tool for shaping policy for the modern fire service.

Upcoming Discussion Panels

Panel 1: Zero Emissions Technologies
June 16, 11:00 am EST
Speakers:

• Larry R. Cocco, Deputy Chief, Community Risk Reduction, Toronto Fire Services
• Kenneth Uzeloc, Fire Chief, City of Kamloops Fire Rescue
• Keven Lefebvre, Fire Chief, Leduc County Fire Services
• Jordan Wolfe, Deputy Director, Centre for Innovation, Transport Canada

Panel 2: Models of Emergency Medical Response
June 29, 2:00 pm EST
Speakers: TBD

Panel 3: Homeless Encampments
TBD – Fall 2023

Speakers

Larry Cocco, Deputy Fire Chief, Toronto Fire Services, Community Risk Reduction Division
Deputy Fire Chief Larry Cocco, Toronto Fire Services (TFS), manages the Community Risk Reduction (CRR) Division that is responsible for Fire Inspections and Enforcement, Fire Investigations, Public Education and Fire Protection Engineering within the City of Toronto; servicing more than three million residents, commuters and tourists. As part of the largest Canadian fire service, CRR conducts comprehensive inspections and investigations to analyze the unique characteristics of metropolitan community risks, utilizing evidence-based findings to develop optimal methods for risk management, formulate modernised public education, and consistently improve inspection and enforcement strategies. Larry has extensive experience in managing major fire incident investigations, as well as specializing in fire safety inspections and enforcement of the Ontario Fire Code

Ken Uzeloc, Fire Chief, City of Kamloops
Ken Uzeloc is the newly appointed Fire Chief for the City of Kamloops starting the position in August of 2022. Ken has 35 years in the fire service starting out as a volunteer in Warfield, BC and then spending 32 ½ years with Calgary Fire. Ken was an active member of several specialty teams including aquatics, high angle, and hazardous materials. He then moved into the role as a hazardous materials officer specializing in terrorism response and teaching emergency services across Canada as part of the Public Safety Canada National terrorism program. After 18 years, Ken moved into management starting as an assistant deputy chief and spending his last 14 years in Calgary as a deputy chief. In that role, he worked in all portfolios at Calgary Fire including as executive officer to the fire chief which led to being interim chief and director of emergency management in 2014 when the chief retired.

Ken believes in giving back to the fire service and as such participates on several industry associations and working committees. Ken is a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and BC Fire Chiefs Association. He sits on the Executive Fire Officers section of IAFC as the Canadian Director and is on the CAFC Fire Prevention & Emergency Preparedness and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committees. Ken co-chairs the Dangerous Goods, Industry & Infrastructure committee and is a principal member on the NFPA 470 Technical Committee for CAFC.

Keven Lefebvre, Fire Chief – Leduc County Fire Services
Chief Lefebvre started as a Volunteer Firefighter in 1982, and at 17, was carrying a pager for the Nisku Fire Department a few months prior to graduating High School. In 1987. After completing a 4-year apprenticeship as an electrician, he was hired as a full-time professional Firefighter with the City of Edmonton. He served with Edmonton for 31 years rising to the level of Deputy Fire Chief in 2013. One of his top memories of those years is the year he spent as a firefighter imbedded with an Australian fire Brigade in Hobart Tasmania.

Upon Retiring from Edmonton in 2018, Keven took on the role of Fire Chief for Leduc County, working back at the station where it all started for him in 1982. Leduc County is a large county with mainly Paid On Call firefighters, 8 districts & 65 pieces of rolling apparatus not counting some of the towns and cities that lie within their border which operate their own fire service.

In Chief Lefebvre’s own words, “I have always been interested in giving back as I develop myself and as such, I have taken most training offered, have volunteered for many fire service-related organizations, including Alberta Safety Codes council, and ULC; and have 4 professional designations including ECFO & Master Electrician.”

He is often sought out as a subject matter expert for Fires involving Electricity. As the newest member of the board of CAFC, building on his prior involvement with the CAFC codes committee, Keven is excited to have thrown his hat further into the ring of a nationally centric group who are progressive, collaborative, and transparent in their commitments to the fire service.

Jordan Wolfe, Government of Canada – Transport Canada  – Deputy Director, Zero Emission Trucking Program
Jordan Wolfe has nearly 16 years of experience with the Government of Canada, including tours of duty across each of the Central Agencies and more than 5 years with Transport Canada’s Innovation Centre, where he leads the Zero Emission Trucking Program. Before joining the Government of Canada, Jordan spent several years working for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Europe.

Jordan holds an advanced Bachelor of Arts degree in Labour Studies and Economics and a Master of Public Administration degree, where he was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Merit.

When he’s not collaborating with stakeholders on how to reduce emissions from the heavy duty trucking sector, you can find him paddling in the backwoods of Algonquin Park or on the jiu jitsu mat.