BONNYVILLE – Beginning March 14, the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority (BRFA) will have a new regional deputy fire chief.
On Friday, the board of directors for the BRFA announced Alicia Krawchuk would be appointed to the position.
Krawchuk is no stranger to the Bonnyville community. Growing up in Bonnyville, she started her fire service career with the Lloydminster Volunteer Fire Department in 2004 where she also worked as a full time Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-A).
In 2007, Krawchuk returned to Bonnyville to pursue a career as an Advanced Care Paramedic. During that time, she also served as a volunteer firefighter with BRFA Station 5 Bonnyville.
Just six years later, she became the Division Chief – Medical Operations of the EMS Division for the BRFA in 2013.
“Alicia brings a lot of real-world managerial experience, and a fresh perspective on the BRFA and its three divisions. She brings very strong EMS experience to the role as well as solid firefighter experience as a volunteer with two separate departments,” wrote Regional Fire Chief Dan Heney in a statement.
Heney says that in the time he has known and worked alongside Krawchuk, she has grown as a manager and continues to implement what she has gained from her degree program.
“Although she will be missed as the leader of our EMS division, we are excited to see her further develop as the regional deputy chief.”
While the bulk of Krawchuk’s experience is in EMS, he says “I see that as strengthening the leadership team as it will add to the ever-increasing role of firefighters in performing the Medical First Response role.”
First woman to fill the role
“I am looking forward to everything that the position entails,” Krawchuk told Lakeland This Week.
It was the training and experience that Krawchuk gained while working for the BRFA that pushed her to apply for the deputy chief position, she says.
“I really want to be able to help the BRFA move forward and to be continue to be a progressive organization from a higher level – and this was the opportunity to do that.”
And while Krawchuk admits it is a little non-traditional to hire somebody whose main focus has been with ambulance services as the regional deputy, she believes that having backgrounds in different first responder roles will bring a unique edge to the position.
“It's important that high level leadership have the knowledge and the experience in each division to be able to identify the unique needs and nature of each division,” she added.
The new regional deputy chief hopes to provide a fresh perspective for each division under the BRFA –EMS, fire and 911.
Along with her medical training background, unique to the role of the regional deputy fire chief, Krawchuk is the first woman to fill the position since the Regional Fire Authority formed in 1996.
“It absolutely means the world to me,” she says. “I have worked very hard in my career. I started my training of being a first responder 20 years ago this year. And throughout, I have noticed that there is a lower number of females. And being a female in the deputy fire chief role is extremely important to me to be able to show others that you could do anything that you put your mind to and work hard towards.”
Krawchuk continued, “I'm appreciative of the opportunity to show other females in the community and in the communities of the first responder world – that anything can be achieved.”
Although Krawchuk says she will miss the dynamics of her old role with the ambulance service, she is looking forward to the challenges ahead.
In her new role, she plans to continue with the organization’s current direction, to implement fresh ideas on how to promote the BRFA, and to recruit more members in all divisions and at every station under the Fire Authority.
The regional deputy chief position became officially vacant in December, when Heney was promoted into the regional fire chief position after standing in for the role since mid-November.
BRFA is now looking to fill Krawchuk’s previous position as the Division Chief – Medical Operations of the EMS Division.
