A war of words is brewing following last week's meeting between the Orangeville Fire Department and the Ontario Firefighters Association (OFA) regarding the two-hatter issue plaguing the local fire department.

Fire chief Andy Macintosh said the union needs to stop putting pressure on the fire department and its use of the so-called "two-hatter" firefighters, or firefighters who work full-time in one area and volunteer in Orangeville during their time off. The Town has filed a grievance against the union for not allowing the out-of-town firefighters to take shifts in Orangeville.

"Until the union backs off I don't know if we can move forward," Chief Macintosh said in an interview. "I go back to my previous statement, we will not be dictated to be a union."

The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office is watching the situation and refusing to take sides, said spokesman Ted Wieclawek. But he added that once public safety is placed at risk as a result of the actions of either side, his organization will get involved, and the office is not seeing a threat to public safety.

"We feel this is an issue best handled through the collective bargaining process," he said. "Based on a review of historical data and and looking at the impact of losing some of the volunteers, and based on some of our discussions with the fire chief we have nothing to suggest a serious threat to public safety. When and if public safety becomes a concern that would be a time that we would get involved, but our research suggests that situation doesn't exist."

The OFA disagrees, and is unwilling to allow its members to volunteer in jurisdictions outside their full-time coverage areas. OFA representative Fred Leblanc said two-hatting impacts on a firefighter's fulltime position, which is where the union contends his or her loyalty should lie.

"As I talk to some of the two-hatters I tell them that they can't pick and choose the calls they go on because the departments tell me they rely heavily on their expertise and leadership on the scene," he said. "So if a firefighter tells me he worked during the day so he won't go to a call at night how does that help the community? If they're working at night and then working next day they could be exhausted both mentally and physically."

Mr. Leblanc said the union's constitution states that firefighters should be free of fire department activities when they are off duty. They need breaks, he said, before introducing themselves to other people's tragedies.

Worker's compensation, he said, is another part of the issue.

"I've asked municipalities what they're going to do if a two-hatter develops a medical problem, like cancer, or an injury from a particular fire or accident. Then you have a case where both municipalities are pointing to each other because no one wants to pay the claim," he said.

"Those claims are not cheap, and to know that now your firefighter is also a firefighter next door, who should pay when the injury happened at someone else's fire?"

Mr. Leblanc points to a Norman Rockwell image held by the general public of the volunteer firefighter which is not entirely true. Although there are some true volunteers operating in the province, Most volunteers in Ontario are actually paid, he explained, and have the same benefits package as the full-time firefighters.

Mr. Leblanc said it's been the union's policy for almost 50 years to be officially against two-hatting by its members, and in the early 1990s it was written into the union constitution.

All members across North America, he said, must abide by the rule.

But Chief Macintosh sees it as a ploy to force the town to hire more fulltime members, an action for which, he said, there is no budget.

The town needs the two-hatters, he said, regardless of the rule.

"I keep hearing the word 'constitution' thrown at me and I couldn't care less about the constitution, it's people's safety that concerns me," he said.

"Our firefighters are smart enough to know that if they have a late call the night before they go in to work, they just don't go. It's always been like that. And as far as the provincial union saying that, their firefighters sometimes do 24-hour shifts. So it's tough for them to use that excuse."