Winnipeg firefighters and their unions say they are stretched to the limit and suffering from long hours and a lack of resources due to staffing shortages.
The delegation told the mayor's office Friday that the preliminary 2026 budget, which allocates $262 million for fire and paramedic services in 2026, $8 million more than this year's $254 million, does not cut it. The Executive Policy Committee met to hear public reaction to the preliminary budget.
Several members of the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service, who work to promote mental health and support colleagues, told council that pressure on firefighters is rapidly increasing and funding for additional staff must be included in the budget.
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United Winnipeg Firefighters president Nick Kasper is calling on Winnipeg City Council to “reallocate tomorrow's overtime costs to today's staffing.”
Capt. Scott Atchison was part of the crew that fought a house fire in St. Boniface that killed two captains in 2007. He now runs a service support team that works with firefighters to access mental health support.
He told the board that the department's resource crunch, which he witnessed after the deadly fire, had worsened.
“We have an aging population, fentanyl and methamphetamine epidemics, rising homelessness, a historic increase in fires in both structures and vacant buildings—all of this is converging at once,” he told politicians.
“Demand has never been higher and it continues to grow.”
Capt. Laura Duncan said firefighters have gone from a 48-hour work week to a 76-hour week in just a few years.
“What is the time frame for this schedule to start affecting your family, your sleep, your self-care?” she said. “This is the question every leader needs to ask today.”
The budget proposal, released in November, included a plan to create a “resource pool” of 10 firefighter positions that could be used to cover absenteeism, to be created annually over the next four years.
At last week's public services committee meeting, the vote on introducing a proposal to add 10 additional firefighters annually to the resource pool was split, causing the issue to be deferred until next year's budget discussion.
United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Nick Kasper called on council to amend the budget to add space for 40 additional firefighters, or to accelerate the hiring of positions from the $300,000 to $400,000 resource pool to “reallocate tomorrow's overtime costs to today's staffing.”
“Our department has exhausted all out-of-the-box innovative solutions and we are now recycling failed ideas by bringing back a pool of resources,” he said. “The only solution that has never been used is following the unanimous recommendation of every expert. Everything else guarantees the same result.”
Last week, the union formally passed a near-unanimous vote of no confidence in the 2026 budget. Less than 10 percent of employees who voted said they considered WFPS a safe place to work.
“This is not symbolic. This is a workforce in crisis and they have no place to call 911,” Kasper said.
“They're telling you they no longer trust the council to support or understand the conditions they're being asked to operate under, and that should concern every person at that table because trust is the foundation of public safety.”
Malak Abas – city reporter Free press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she headed the student newspaper at the University of Manitoba before joining Free press in 2020. More about Melaka.
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