Illustration by Mirae Lee
Patricia Youn on Firefighting in Toronto and Navigating the Use of Water as an Essential Service
Interview by Harriet Kim & Mirae Lee
It’s hard not to think of fires, especially with their increased frequency and intensity, as a sort of public symbol for the realities of living in a radically changed climate. It’s also hard not to think about the people on the front lines who are fighting these fires. When Mirae and I first started thinking about the theme of water, I immediately thought of Patricia Youn, a firefighter with the Toronto Fire Services. I wanted to know specifically what it was like to be in those situations, but also more generally about the services—often unseen—that firefighters provide and that allow us to seamlessly move through our days. At the end of November 2019, Patricia talked to us about perceptions of safety, navigating the use of water as an essential service in today’s climate crisis, and the unique challenges of working in Toronto.
Disclaimer: the views expressed in this interview do not reflect the views of the Toronto Fire Department.
This interview was edited for grammar, flow, and clarity.
Disclaimer: the views expressed in this interview do not reflect the views of the Toronto Fire Department.
This interview was edited for grammar, flow, and clarity.
Illustration by Harriet Kim
Harriet Kim (HK): What does an average workday (or week) look like?
Patricia Youn (PY): The city’s fire service is broken up into four commands. I work in the South Command, which is the one downtown. We have 24-hour shifts. I go to work about twice a week, and it ends up being roughly seven days a month. Our routine revolves around training and cleaning, but we also have a lot of downtime. As a crew, we prepare meals and eat together.
HK: What are your interactions with water? What is your relationship with it?
PY: There’s a general understanding of how much waste we produce now as a society. I feel like climate change is a hot topic.
In my personal life, I try to minimize my carbon footprint as much as possible. I bike all the time, but more generally, I try to live holistically. At work, we use water all the time. It’s a big part of our training and at emergency calls. We do a lot of cleaning, as well. We clean our gear quite a bit—the truck, the floors, the bedding. It ends up using a lot of water. We’re also cooking all the time, washing dishes or making food. [Water] is just everywhere. We’re constantly around it.
Mirae Lee (ML): At work, where does that water come from? Is it the same water as tap water?
PY: Yes, technically, most of the water is the city’s water. In certain neighbourhoods, they have their own private mains.
It’s not very common, but there was a big fire down at the GFL [Green for Life Environmental Inc.], a waste processing facility on Cherry Beach, two or three years ago. It was a huge fire, and there weren’t enough hydrants nearby because it’s a port. The trucks had to go in and draft water directly from Lake Ontario.
HK: Logistically, these situations sound challenging to navigate. We’re seeing more frequent and intense flooding in this city. I think about how this past summer, there was an incident where two men were stuck in an elevator, at the basement level, and there was flooding, including in the elevator. Of course, that incident must have been traumatic for the two people, but for you, how do these kinds of situations impact your ability to do your job and in what ways?
PY: Yes, you’re right. We do get flash flooding in this city and I think that affects almost everybody. Especially in Toronto, everything slopes downhill south toward the lake. There were events where roads were completely flooded and cars were floating, which prevent us from getting to certain calls. Last year, there was an instance where someone was trapped in their car and trying to drive under a bridge that flooded. They were stuck in their car due to the pressure of the water and couldn’t open the door. A firefighter had to wade in and smash the window open. It does make it more complicated. When it rains heavily, it actually affects alarm systems. Sometimes, the freezing and thawing of water bursts pipes and clogs drains, which results in more calls to us and presents a different kind of challenge of figuring out different ways to get to events.
HK: It seems like much of that is physical infrastructure that you don’t have control over. As a city, are there things we can do to make it easier for you to be able to get to a call?
PY: That’s the thing. Many of these floods happen suddenly now and at weird times of the year. Getting a snowstorm last week, or two weeks ago, was unusual, but all that snow then melts, and it has to go somewhere. Especially now, there are leaves everywhere, which block drains. I personally think Toronto is a bit behind in infrastructure and its layouts. We’re a city that reacts to problems, like how adding bike lanes to Bloor was an afterthought. All the infrastructure [development] happens after the fact, and I’m not really sure [what to do] for flooding. To flood-proof your house, you’d have to redo your foundation or [something] similar. There are things we can do, but I don’t know what would be the most practical. We also have large trees, and branches fall off in the winter. The city could go with an arborist to cull trees. I’m sure there are thousands of things we can do in this city.
HK: Do you feel unsafe in these situations, or has your sense of safety changed since you started?
Patricia Youn (PY): The city’s fire service is broken up into four commands. I work in the South Command, which is the one downtown. We have 24-hour shifts. I go to work about twice a week, and it ends up being roughly seven days a month. Our routine revolves around training and cleaning, but we also have a lot of downtime. As a crew, we prepare meals and eat together.
HK: What are your interactions with water? What is your relationship with it?
PY: There’s a general understanding of how much waste we produce now as a society. I feel like climate change is a hot topic.
In my personal life, I try to minimize my carbon footprint as much as possible. I bike all the time, but more generally, I try to live holistically. At work, we use water all the time. It’s a big part of our training and at emergency calls. We do a lot of cleaning, as well. We clean our gear quite a bit—the truck, the floors, the bedding. It ends up using a lot of water. We’re also cooking all the time, washing dishes or making food. [Water] is just everywhere. We’re constantly around it.
Mirae Lee (ML): At work, where does that water come from? Is it the same water as tap water?
PY: Yes, technically, most of the water is the city’s water. In certain neighbourhoods, they have their own private mains.
It’s not very common, but there was a big fire down at the GFL [Green for Life Environmental Inc.], a waste processing facility on Cherry Beach, two or three years ago. It was a huge fire, and there weren’t enough hydrants nearby because it’s a port. The trucks had to go in and draft water directly from Lake Ontario.
HK: Logistically, these situations sound challenging to navigate. We’re seeing more frequent and intense flooding in this city. I think about how this past summer, there was an incident where two men were stuck in an elevator, at the basement level, and there was flooding, including in the elevator. Of course, that incident must have been traumatic for the two people, but for you, how do these kinds of situations impact your ability to do your job and in what ways?
PY: Yes, you’re right. We do get flash flooding in this city and I think that affects almost everybody. Especially in Toronto, everything slopes downhill south toward the lake. There were events where roads were completely flooded and cars were floating, which prevent us from getting to certain calls. Last year, there was an instance where someone was trapped in their car and trying to drive under a bridge that flooded. They were stuck in their car due to the pressure of the water and couldn’t open the door. A firefighter had to wade in and smash the window open. It does make it more complicated. When it rains heavily, it actually affects alarm systems. Sometimes, the freezing and thawing of water bursts pipes and clogs drains, which results in more calls to us and presents a different kind of challenge of figuring out different ways to get to events.
HK: It seems like much of that is physical infrastructure that you don’t have control over. As a city, are there things we can do to make it easier for you to be able to get to a call?
PY: That’s the thing. Many of these floods happen suddenly now and at weird times of the year. Getting a snowstorm last week, or two weeks ago, was unusual, but all that snow then melts, and it has to go somewhere. Especially now, there are leaves everywhere, which block drains. I personally think Toronto is a bit behind in infrastructure and its layouts. We’re a city that reacts to problems, like how adding bike lanes to Bloor was an afterthought. All the infrastructure [development] happens after the fact, and I’m not really sure [what to do] for flooding. To flood-proof your house, you’d have to redo your foundation or [something] similar. There are things we can do, but I don’t know what would be the most practical. We also have large trees, and branches fall off in the winter. The city could go with an arborist to cull trees. I’m sure there are thousands of things we can do in this city.
HK: Do you feel unsafe in these situations, or has your sense of safety changed since you started?
I think inherently it can be seen as a dangerous job, but we are always going to do things in a way that makes sense. The only times we’ll put ourselves in danger is if a life is in immediate need of assistance. |
PY: No, I don’t feel unsafe. Every shift, we have our crew. We’re always working with the same people. We do a lot of training and a lot of drills together. We’re issued equipment that has been tested, and we all have protocols on how to approach situations. I think inherently it can be seen as a dangerous job, but we are always going to do things in a way that makes sense. The only times we’ll put ourselves in danger is if a life is in immediate need of assistance. We want to protect property and pets, sure, but human life is the most important. It’s rare to have a situation where water is in the way of getting to people. I personally haven’t experienced that. Not to say it can’t happen, but I think we’d always try to come up with the safest approach.
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ML: What about safety that you feel not as a firefighter, but personally in your day-to-day life, considering situations such as flooding or branches breaking off?
PY: Like I said, I think we’re all affected by natural… Not even disasters, but just the way things are changing now. Even our seasons are weird now. Sometimes I’m worried about tree branches falling, and I’ll look up now and then, but I don’t think it’s healthy to live that way—constantly worried something is going to take you out. It’s possible, but no, I don’t feel unsafe.
HK: Admittedly, I was one of those people with misconceptions of your job, including the levels of safety and all the different ways water gets used. Is there anything you’d want to say to folks who may have similar misconceptions or misunderstandings about what you do?
PY: Toronto Fire Services is the largest fire department in Canada. When something is that big, it’s hard to make quick changes because it has to get passed through many different levels. Our new aerials, which is a truck with a ladder on it, is the result of a long-term change. My truck is pretty new; it’s about two years old. It has an auxiliary battery on the top. When we get to a call, we park the truck and leave the truck running with its lights on, which could be for a long time. The new function will automatically shut the engine off when idling and will turn on an external battery to charge the lights, which gets rid of the extra exhaust that is burning for no reason. We have a solution for foam, like soap that we add to flow streams to make water flow more efficiently, making saturation levels higher. The old foam was corrosive. It would go down the drain and was bad for the environment. We’ve replaced that with something more environmentally friendly and safer to put down the drain. There are the changes that are being made.
HK: Do you cover all of downtown or are there certain boundaries that you work within?
PY: Everything in the fire department is very structured and very hierarchical. We have certain parameters that we call our “run areas.” We have commands, districts, and then run areas. Mine is up from Danforth to Queen Street, from Broadview to roughly Greenwood. When one truck is necessary, only we would get called to that event, but when there are alarms or fires, we send multiple trucks so that we can get sent to another run area.
HK: How many people do you go out with when responding to calls?
PY: I’m assigned to an aerial truck. On average, we have about three people; our pump has four people. On any shift, I’m generally working with seven or eight people.
HK: How much do you interact with other essential services, like paramedics? I’m sure they have their own interactions with water, but do you have any connection with them in relation to water?
PY: We run with paramedics every shift and sometimes police or, oftentimes, community housing security. It’s hard to say about water. I think the only time water would be utilized is for a quick washdown when paramedics or cops are exposed to something. We can open our valves to help them wash down. Sometimes, we get called back to wash down scenes or sidewalks. It depends.
HK: Does climate change factor in when interacting with colleagues while on the job, or is it ever a topic of discussion?
PY: I think [people on] the job [are] overall pretty conservative, though not everyone, obviously. Every hall, every shift is different in what they’re interested in talking about. I feel pretty fortunate to be working with my colleagues. My captain is very aware of climate change, supports the Green Party, and wants there to be a change, whereas many people I work with don’t want to talk about that or politics or anything that makes [them] uncomfortable.
HK: Is a part of your job related to public outreach or education?
PY: Yes, we’ll do tours in schools; sometimes, classes will come to us. In Toronto Fire Services, there is a different division for public education, so there are different parts of the job that do more outreach. For us, there’s a lot of events we can volunteer for, and we’re in the public quite a bit. Individually, a friend and I went to a high school’s graduating class a few years ago to talk about the Toronto Fire Service as a potential career.
HK: Public engagement, with regard to the climate crisis conversation, is something I think every job and organization may feel the need to incorporate, if it hasn’t already, now that it is affecting many aspects of our day-to-day lives. Do you think this is already happening or that it’ll be necessary moving forward?
PY: Like I said, I think we’re all affected by natural… Not even disasters, but just the way things are changing now. Even our seasons are weird now. Sometimes I’m worried about tree branches falling, and I’ll look up now and then, but I don’t think it’s healthy to live that way—constantly worried something is going to take you out. It’s possible, but no, I don’t feel unsafe.
HK: Admittedly, I was one of those people with misconceptions of your job, including the levels of safety and all the different ways water gets used. Is there anything you’d want to say to folks who may have similar misconceptions or misunderstandings about what you do?
PY: Toronto Fire Services is the largest fire department in Canada. When something is that big, it’s hard to make quick changes because it has to get passed through many different levels. Our new aerials, which is a truck with a ladder on it, is the result of a long-term change. My truck is pretty new; it’s about two years old. It has an auxiliary battery on the top. When we get to a call, we park the truck and leave the truck running with its lights on, which could be for a long time. The new function will automatically shut the engine off when idling and will turn on an external battery to charge the lights, which gets rid of the extra exhaust that is burning for no reason. We have a solution for foam, like soap that we add to flow streams to make water flow more efficiently, making saturation levels higher. The old foam was corrosive. It would go down the drain and was bad for the environment. We’ve replaced that with something more environmentally friendly and safer to put down the drain. There are the changes that are being made.
HK: Do you cover all of downtown or are there certain boundaries that you work within?
PY: Everything in the fire department is very structured and very hierarchical. We have certain parameters that we call our “run areas.” We have commands, districts, and then run areas. Mine is up from Danforth to Queen Street, from Broadview to roughly Greenwood. When one truck is necessary, only we would get called to that event, but when there are alarms or fires, we send multiple trucks so that we can get sent to another run area.
HK: How many people do you go out with when responding to calls?
PY: I’m assigned to an aerial truck. On average, we have about three people; our pump has four people. On any shift, I’m generally working with seven or eight people.
HK: How much do you interact with other essential services, like paramedics? I’m sure they have their own interactions with water, but do you have any connection with them in relation to water?
PY: We run with paramedics every shift and sometimes police or, oftentimes, community housing security. It’s hard to say about water. I think the only time water would be utilized is for a quick washdown when paramedics or cops are exposed to something. We can open our valves to help them wash down. Sometimes, we get called back to wash down scenes or sidewalks. It depends.
HK: Does climate change factor in when interacting with colleagues while on the job, or is it ever a topic of discussion?
PY: I think [people on] the job [are] overall pretty conservative, though not everyone, obviously. Every hall, every shift is different in what they’re interested in talking about. I feel pretty fortunate to be working with my colleagues. My captain is very aware of climate change, supports the Green Party, and wants there to be a change, whereas many people I work with don’t want to talk about that or politics or anything that makes [them] uncomfortable.
HK: Is a part of your job related to public outreach or education?
PY: Yes, we’ll do tours in schools; sometimes, classes will come to us. In Toronto Fire Services, there is a different division for public education, so there are different parts of the job that do more outreach. For us, there’s a lot of events we can volunteer for, and we’re in the public quite a bit. Individually, a friend and I went to a high school’s graduating class a few years ago to talk about the Toronto Fire Service as a potential career.
HK: Public engagement, with regard to the climate crisis conversation, is something I think every job and organization may feel the need to incorporate, if it hasn’t already, now that it is affecting many aspects of our day-to-day lives. Do you think this is already happening or that it’ll be necessary moving forward?
... in terms of our relationship with the public, it’s an essential service. If a building is on fire, we’re not going to cap our water. |
PY: I’m not really sure, because internally, we are making changes, but in terms of our relationship with the public, it’s an essential service. If a building is on fire, we’re not going to cap our water. Trucks are going to be running, and emissions are going to be created. It’s going to happen even if we try to be aware and mitigate.
ML: What about outside of work? Do you have these conversations with your friends? |
PY: Yes, for sure. It’s just present. If you’re following any news, there’s likely an indirect or direct tie to climate change. It’s all connected. I would say my peer group is definitely aware of what is happening and would love to see big changes.
HK: Is this a conversation you’ve had within your—or any—Korean community?
PY: I talk to my brothers about it, but otherwise, as I’ve gotten older, I branched away, so I can’t answer that.
ML: We’re having this conversation now, and that’s important. For you, does your job as a firefighter impact your own personal life? If yes, how?
PY: It’s a hard one to answer, but I think the nature of my job is that there is a lot of waste, whether it’s the usage of water or other resources. When there’s a fire, there’s waste. Things are burnt and destroyed. When car accidents happen, fluid spills everywhere. It has opened my eyes to how frequently these events happen in the city, including ones that we may not even know about. A big one was that GFL fire I mentioned earlier. It was a waste processing facility; they had so much crap to deal with, and it was right on the edge of Lake Ontario. There was a huge fire. With our water hitting it, the runoff was going into the lake unfiltered and uncaptured. It was a bit appalling, but for us, the priority was just to get the fire out. It was a defensive attack; we’re not going to bring people in to make dykes when it’s not safe, which goes back to the safety issue.
ML: With the GFL fire, was there a follow-up? Would someone or the city clean up the waste from the water?
PY: Especially with large events like that one, the Ministry of Environment will come. They always do. They determine water safety levels, and I think that gets incorporated with the city website issuing swimming safety warnings.
HK: Because you’re on the front lines—and a sort of public face—for responding to these climate-related situations, do you think there’s too much pressure on firefighters to be environmentally concerned when that’s an area that needs more governmental or city-wide action?
PY: I feel that pressure, personally. If we’re training, I personally don’t want or like to leave water flowing nonstop, but due to the structure of the job, I’m at the bottom. I can voice my opinion, but ultimately, I have to follow orders. I think there’s a little bit of pressure, but I don’t think it’s imminent. I don’t think big policies will change for it yet.
HK: With the worries and pressures you may generally have with the job, even visually seeing the GFL situation seems like a lot to take in. Are there ways you’re able to take care of yourself individually or collectively as a team?
HK: Is this a conversation you’ve had within your—or any—Korean community?
PY: I talk to my brothers about it, but otherwise, as I’ve gotten older, I branched away, so I can’t answer that.
ML: We’re having this conversation now, and that’s important. For you, does your job as a firefighter impact your own personal life? If yes, how?
PY: It’s a hard one to answer, but I think the nature of my job is that there is a lot of waste, whether it’s the usage of water or other resources. When there’s a fire, there’s waste. Things are burnt and destroyed. When car accidents happen, fluid spills everywhere. It has opened my eyes to how frequently these events happen in the city, including ones that we may not even know about. A big one was that GFL fire I mentioned earlier. It was a waste processing facility; they had so much crap to deal with, and it was right on the edge of Lake Ontario. There was a huge fire. With our water hitting it, the runoff was going into the lake unfiltered and uncaptured. It was a bit appalling, but for us, the priority was just to get the fire out. It was a defensive attack; we’re not going to bring people in to make dykes when it’s not safe, which goes back to the safety issue.
ML: With the GFL fire, was there a follow-up? Would someone or the city clean up the waste from the water?
PY: Especially with large events like that one, the Ministry of Environment will come. They always do. They determine water safety levels, and I think that gets incorporated with the city website issuing swimming safety warnings.
HK: Because you’re on the front lines—and a sort of public face—for responding to these climate-related situations, do you think there’s too much pressure on firefighters to be environmentally concerned when that’s an area that needs more governmental or city-wide action?
PY: I feel that pressure, personally. If we’re training, I personally don’t want or like to leave water flowing nonstop, but due to the structure of the job, I’m at the bottom. I can voice my opinion, but ultimately, I have to follow orders. I think there’s a little bit of pressure, but I don’t think it’s imminent. I don’t think big policies will change for it yet.
HK: With the worries and pressures you may generally have with the job, even visually seeing the GFL situation seems like a lot to take in. Are there ways you’re able to take care of yourself individually or collectively as a team?
There’s a lot of onus on individuals |
PY: My team tries to be conscious. It’s always on the back of my mind, and maybe everyone’s minds. Personally, I try to live with as little as possible. I think for there to be change, it has to be on a larger scale, like at a corporate scale, and not just charging them more money to let them do whatever they want. There’s a lot of onus on individuals—for example, plastic straws—but will that stop climate change? Once in a while, my partner and I will go to a protest, but I’m not sure what more we can do. Maybe on a small level, make little changes, but I don’t know.
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