Volunteer firefighters and first responders in Saskatchewan can soon disobey traffic laws en route to emergencies in their own vehicles.
They will also be able to use red flashing lights and sirens.
The government has announced that municipalities will be able to designate volunteers’ vehicles as emergency vehicles beginning in April.
Volunteer responders must now obey all traffic rules and can be charged and fined if they don’t. A case earlier this year in Estevan, when a volunteer firefighter was fined for stopping and then proceeding through a red light, caught the government’s attention.
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Changes to the Traffic Safety Act were introduced to avoid this type of situation, as long as municipal leaders designate the vehicles.
Ken Cheveldayoff, the minister responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance, said volunteers will have to take a defensive driving course and their vehicles will have to meet certain safety standards.
SGI will spend $28,000 to $72,000 to provide the driving courses. Municipalities or the volunteers will be responsible to pay for required lights, sirens and vehicle upgrades.
“Over the long term I think it will be money very well spent,” Cheveldayoff said.
Dale Wagner, a Hague first responder and president of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association, said volunteers appreciate the government’s decision.
“This is a very positive step,” he told reporters at the legislature. “I think it’s going to be an important tool.”
Wagner said volunteers often have to take their own vehicles to emergencies because municipalities don’t have enough vehicles to transport them. This can put responders in serious situations.
Wagner was once nearly struck by a vehicle while attending to a pedestrian who had been hit on a highway. He said he would have felt safer if his vehicle had been clearly marked as an emergency vehicle.
His association represents 200 volunteer fire departments and more than 6,000 firefighters.
