N.S. firefighter’s family pushes for school to close following death

Skyler Blackie’s bunker gear, including his pants and boots, sit on the floor of his parents’ basement in tribute along with dozens of smiling photos of the young fallen firefighter.

The 28-year-old died following a routine training procedure at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School in Waverley, N.S., in March 2019. The expired extinguisher he was using exploded.

“Unfortunately the fire extinguisher he chose was well out of date. It hadn’t been inspected since 2004, so we don’t know why the fire school would have ever had such a thing there,” said Blaine Blackie, Skyler’s father.

A court case resulted in the school admitting in 2022 that it failed to perform routine inspections and keep adequate records. 

But now, the Blackie family has learned the training facility has received 41 new safety recommendations as a result of a third-party review ordered by the court.

The provincial Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration said 22 “high-risk activities” were noted by occupational health and safety officers, and the “Safety Branch continues to work with firefighters’ school to achieve compliance.”

Blackie’s sister Jessica Gillis calls it “unacceptable.”

“We can’t be quiet anymore. We can’t hope and wait because hoping and waiting could just lead to another death,” said Gillis.

Another member of the Blackie family was there the day of the tragedy — Skyler’s younger brother Errison. They were both employed at Truro Fire Service and had been at the school together to complete an exam as part of their certification upgrades.

Chief Blois Currie said he has not sent a single firefighter back to the school since that day.

“I don’t want to have to go to a funeral because another firefighter was killed at the training facility,” said Currie.

“If it was any other organization, they’d probably be shut down until they assured that it was safe. For some reason, they continue to bring people in knowing it’s unsafe.”

Currie said fire departments across the province are continuing to send members to the school, but he hopes they will now take a pause after learning the latest developments.

The Nova Scotia Firefighters School declined an interview with CBC News. In a public written statement, executive director John Cunningham said the school is “actively implementing changes to our operations and safety policies to create a safer training environment for all firefighters.” 

He said the organization is committed to continuing improvements. 

The Blackie family acknowledges the school did fulfil other court-ordered obligations such as three safety presentations, but they said the steps were often delayed and involved minimal effort.

“And they were prompted to do so,” said Cheryl Ann Blackie, Skyler’s mother.

“If it’s an establishment that has the right to continue operating, on that day that Skyler lost his life they should have cleaned house. They shouldn’t have had to be prompted to do these things.”

In his 2022 decision, Judge William Digby fined the school $102,000 and ordered that $80,000 be paid in one of two ways: directly to Public Education Trust fund set up by the minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration or paid as a scholarship program for volunteer firefighters training at the Nova Scotia Firefighters School.

Initially, the school selected the scholarship program.

“We were all heartbroken because we thought why would we want precious lives to continue to go to that school with a scholarship in our son’s name? It didn’t make sense to us,” said Cheryl Ann Blackie.

She said in the end, the school donated $14,000 to bursaries and gave the rest to government.

The Atlantic Provinces Professional Fire Fighters posted on social media that it stands in full support of the Blackie family and their calls to shut down the training facility.

“Despite the school’s guilty plea, we’ve seen an unacceptable lack of accountability and urgency in addressing the very safety issues that led to this preventable tragedy,” said the statement. 

“As firefighters, we put our lives on the line every day, and we demand a training environment that prioritizes our safety and prepares us for the challenges we face on the job.”