Corner Brook fire chief axed as new position created, Charles Pender says

Corner Brook Mayor Charles Pender says the city's fire chief position was eliminated to make way for a new department, which will include a new director position.

• Corner Brook cuts fire chief job

"The suggestion that came from the city manager last week was that we look at implementing or creating a new department, called protective services," saidPender.

"Under that department we include both the fire department, the 911 service, and some other areas of the city's operations."

Thedepartment will also require the creation of a new director position.

Chief Neville Wheaton was told Tuesday he was out of a job, an announcement he said came as a total surprise.

Wheaton does have a contract with the city, which means he is not yet unemployed.

"He's basically been placed on administrative leave until such a time as we go through the process of voting in council and so on," said Pender.

Private decision

The redundancy notice and restructuring came in the middle of the city's fire prevention week, and one day after a new fire truck was delivered to the citytiming Pender admits is unfortunate.

"This is something that had been in the works for a few weeks," said Pender.

Pender added the vote to remove the fire chief position came during a recent, private council meeting.

"We don't normally deal with HR issues in public until once they're announced. Obviously, we want to be sensitive to the employeesand inform them firstbefore we inform the general public," said Pender.

Pender said any further changes or restructuring within the city administration will happen in the coming weeks, with more information about the scope of the protective services department coming by the end of the year.

Firefighting as usual

With the fire chief position eliminated, Pender said the deputy chief is currently in charge of the fire department.

"We have all our crews working as they normally do," Pender said.

"People shouldn't have any concerns about our fire department responding to any emergencies."