New West Hants fire director working to create a united regional fire service

Bill McKee was six years old when he was saved by a firefighter who lived next door.

It was a moment that altered his life course forever.

“We had a chimney fire and I was unconscious in the basement with my sister. It just happened that this firefighter was one of my neighbours who just came back from a school function where he had done a display on the (self-contained breathing apparatus) and his gear,” McKee recalled.

“He went inside, pulled us out, and we were oxygenated by the ambulance and were resuscitated,” he shared.

“I said that day that when I got old enough, I would give back to my community and join the volunteer fire service.”

At just 17, McKee became a volunteer in a rural department in Ontario. He later became a career firefighter in the country’s largest city and was recently hired as West Hants Regional Municipality’s first director of fire services.

McKee said he can’t get over the warm welcome he’s received.

“I’ve just been overwhelmed with the kindness here in this community. And I’m glad to be part of it.”

The position had been discussed for years, even prior to the 2020 consolidation of Windsor and West Hants municipalities.

“Council’s hope is to continue growing our fire services and making it completely regionalized, with all fire departments working cohesively as one single unit (while) each maintaining their separate identities, their historical identities,” Mayor Abraham Zebian said.

“Bill is definitely the right choice to make it all happen. The energy, the experience, his intelligence, just his way to work with people and his knowledge of safety and fire is second to none,” Zebian added.

“We are ecstatic that he chose the West Hants Regional Municipality.”

McKee was poised to follow in his father’s footsteps, who owned a high voltage company in Ottawa. It never occurred to him that he could become a career firefighter until a captain encouraged him to apply. He travelled to Toronto with fellow volunteer firefighters and took the test.

“I scored 98 on the written exam and got a first interview,” he said, noting it was then he realized he might be destined for a career in the fire service.

He got hired in January 2002 with the Toronto Fire Services.

“Went from a small, rural farming community to the big City of Toronto. (It) was a big culture shock. But I absolutely fell in love with the fire service. I engrossed myself in it,” McKee said.

“I worked in some of the busiest halls in the City of Toronto.”

He spent his early career in Parkdale, before it was an affluent neighbourhood. He worked 16.5 years out of Chinatown and Little Italy, in the centre of the downtown core.

“We ran a pump and an aerial that ran over 4,000 calls a year, each. So we swapped between our trucks every week,” he said.

McKee said the area had a blend of residential, high rise, and industrial buildings.

“I moved to Regent Park, where I was an officer, and I worked a rescue and a pump out of there that ran 5,000 calls each,” he said, noting it was a very culturally diverse, socio-economically challenged neighbourhood.

While he was a firefighter, he also served as a union executive for 14 years. Through that role, he helped lobby provincial, federal, and municipal governments on public safety issues, firefighter safety issues, and legislation for presumptive cancers and occupational diseases.

“I was part of a small group that was the first group that was successful to get Ontario presumptive legislation for cancers. We actually helped draft that legislation,” McKee said.

In his 40s, he went back to school to obtain a paralegal certificate, completing the two-year program in six months. McKee said while union representatives could represent members at various tribunals, he had noticed a trend emerging, where people wanted either a paralegal or a lawyer to be present.

He opened his own legal practice part-time, where he worked with seniors and people who were socially and economically challenged. He said it was predominately disability and pension fund applications and landlord and tenant board tribunals. He stepped away from that during the pandemic.

On April 4, 2021, McKee was driving the oldest mid-mount aerial truck in Toronto Fire Services when the air brakes failed while cresting a hill. With a busy intersection ahead, he had to make a choice.

“In that instance, I had to make a decision on who lived and who died,” McKee said, noting there were numerous pedestrians mulling about.

“When I made the right-hand turn, I knew full well that the truck was going to roll and kill me.”

But luck was on his side. McKee said as the back end of the truck swung out, hitting a hydro pole, the vehicle started to tip the other way.

“I saw another hydro pole in front of me. I cut the wheel as hard as I could and hit it head-on,” he said.

“Of that entire accident, there wasn’t a pedestrian, car, (or) house that was damaged. There was just two hydro poles, the truck, and myself. The other firefighters that were in the truck, I protected them because they were on the opposite side.”

But the accident left McKee with damage to every facet joint in his spine, three herniated discs, and four pinched nerve roots.

“So every four months, I have to go for neuroablation therapy, where they take needles and they stick them in my nerves and they electrocute them to kill the nerve endings so that I’m not in so much pain,” he said.

The damage also left him unable to continue a career as a suppression firefighter. While he said he could have remained on the payroll doing other tasks, he wouldn’t have been on the front lines.

“I’m somebody who is very motivated on challenges, and I like to be productive, and I like to be actually doing something that I think is of significant value,” he said.

In July 2022, he resigned. His highest rank was acting captain.

He worked for a year as a project manager with Calian, which provides Canadian defence solutions, and then opened up a consulting firm with his wife, Basia Radomski.

“I missed the fire department. I missed the fire service. The culture, the camaraderie, the purpose of coming together to help the community and help people. And I wasn’t totally fulfilled,” McKee said.

When the West Hants job posting popped up on his LinkedIn feed, Radomski encouraged him to apply.

“I showed it to my wife and she said, ‘This is a job that’s customized for your skill set. If you were to customize a job based on your resumé, this would be it,’” he recalled.

He applied and landed the job.

Radomski and their teenage son remain in Ontario so he can finish Grade 12, then she will join McKee in West Hants with their two dogs. Their daughter is currently attending university in Ontario.

The new director hit the ground running when he arrived in West Hants late this summer.

He’s met with Brooklyn, Hantsport, Summerville, and Windsor firefighters, and set up a working group that consists of the four chiefs and one deputy chief from each station. He’s been meeting with various stakeholders and municipal staff.

“One of the reasons why I’m here in West Hants is the City of Toronto amalgamated in 1998, and they blended six different municipalities, large municipalities, together,” he said, noting it was a similar situation to West Hants.

The Toronto Fire Service also took time to unify after regionalization.

“So when I got hired in 2002, they still hadn’t fully integrated the fire service. So I was actually part of the committee that looked at everything from standard operating procedures to training procedures, to equipment standardization, and then from the union side of things, I was also part of bringing six different collective agreements together and merging into one,” he said.

McKee said the West Hants fire departments haven’t been integrated together.

“One of my specializations is that I sort of know already the pain points that can happen with amalgamation. I know sort of where we have to make priority changes in terms of not only our capabilities, but also our training and equipment.”

The chiefs working group is reviewing “existing policies, bylaws, procedures and operational practices to identify gaps, inconsistencies, and opportunities for regional standardization.” The chiefs are putting together an organizational readiness workbook, which will help McKee determine everything the fire service has and what levels of training have been completed. He will use this information to create a fire service assessment and capital asset management strategy.

He said this will help everything from identifying service gaps to equipment replacement requirements.

He’s put a pause on capital and equipment purchases until that broader picture is available.

“I’m going to do a fire service assessment. I hoping I’m going to have that complete by November,” he said.

McKee has noticed the departments have been operating as silos, ordering supplies as needed but not ensuring they’re compatible with neighbouring stations. One example is the current breathing apparatus. The fire departments use two different brands, which aren’t interchangeable. He said that’s a safety issue, as firefighters should be able to give another firefighter air should something happen at a fire call.

Part of his review will consider duplication of services and streamlining services.

“I’ll use this as an example. Does every department need a drone? The answer is probably not. They’re very expensive, and the training that’s involved with them is very intensive,” he said.

McKee said bulk ordering may cost more upfront, but it saves money in the long term as manufacturers can adjust unit prices. He said trucks don’t need bells and whistles – they need to be able to get the job done in a safe manner. He’ll be bringing forward recommendations to council as the overall needs become clearer.

“I don’t only have to look at what’s happening here today and now, I have to look at forecasting three, five, 10 years down the road and start planning for those functions,” he said.

McKee said the process will be collaborative with the chiefs but ultimately, he needs to do what’s best for public safety and firefighter safety, and adheres to industry standards.

“I don’t make unilateral change just to make change. I’m somebody who’s very much collaborative in my leadership approach,” McKee said.

He said the regionalization is starting off with a good base and he believes the transition will be relatively seamless.

“Across the departments, we have one thing in common. We have passion. Our members are so passionate and invested in the fire service. They are very much here for the community and they all want to make a difference in somebody’s life. And you can’t teach that, you can’t buy that. It’s something that comes organically, and when you have it, all you have to do is, from a leadership perspective, focus it in the right direction,” he said.

“Once we get everybody on board and we get everybody paddling in the same direction, we’re going to be unstoppable.”