Skyler Blackie, a firefighter who died in 2019, noticed rust on a fire extinguisher before he used it.
But during the training exercise at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School, his instructor told him to use it anyway, according to an incident report, which the province gave to Blackie’s family this week.
When Blackie, 29, tried to use the fire extinguisher to put out a fire, the bottom blew out and the top of the extinguisher hit him in the face.
After 11 days, Blackie died in the hospital.
“What broke all of our hearts,” said Jessica Gillis, Blackie’s sister, “was that [the report] said that my brother had noticed rust on the extinguisher, addressed that with the instructor, who told him it would be fine to use.”
Gillis and her family recently revealed in an online petition that a third-party investigation into the school showed it had 41 safety infractions, 22 of which were high risk, five years after Blackie died.
More than 2000 people has signed the petition on Friday, which calls for the provincial government to step in and create new legislation that would help make the facility safer for firefighter trainees.
In a social media post, Truro fire chief Blois Currie called on other leaders in fire service to stop sending firefighters to the school. The Atlantic Provinces Professional Fire Fighters Association, along with the Halifax Professional Fire Fighters Association union voiced their support for Blackie’s family and for better safety conditions.
Change should have come sooner, says Gillis
Gillis said it shouldn’t take a third-party investigation to prompt action from the school.
“If I knew I had people’s lives in my hands, those people who were then turning around and going out and saving our communities, you best believe that safety would be the top priority.”
For Gillis and her family, this report provides more details of what happened to Blackie before he died, but they already knew he was killed because of a fire extinguisher that went more than three years without a necessary inspection.
The firefighters school said they were open to making the changes mentioned in the petition, but that would require money from the government, according to a social media post from the school.
Gillis said she doesn’t buy it.
“I understand that funding obviously makes a difference. Some of the things, an extinguisher with rust and outdated stickers — you have paid employees. How did that get missed?” said Gillis.
She said that doesn’t require extra funding. That requires a set of eyes from someone who already works at the school.
“I’m just not buying that it’s all funding. There are serious safety lapses that can easily be corrected, and they just don’t take the time of day to do that.”
