With more than 100,000 residents and a regional reach of over 300,000, it’s a growing hub for business, services, and opportunity. Enjoy abundant parks and trails, vibrant arts and culture, excellent recreation and education, and a strong sense of community. With easy access to lakes, outdoor adventures, and the mountains, plus a thriving economy and high quality of life, Red Deer is an inviting place to live, work, and grow.

About The City of Red Deer Municipal Government: The City of Red Deer is a dynamic municipal organization with a $480M operating budget, a $60M capital program, and a workforce of nearly 1,700 employees. It is focused on growing with purpose by attracting talented, community-minded people who want to make a difference. Guided by the vision “Our City, One Voice,” Red Deer is building a thriving, inclusive, and connected community, with priorities centered on a vibrant economy, community wellbeing, and strong engagement.

The Assistant Deputy

Chief is directly responsible to lead and manage the day-to-day functions of their respective branches and sections within Red Deer Emergency Services. They are responsible for technical activities, personnel, recruiting, mentoring and staff development, budget, labour relations, health & safety, goal setting, procurement, asset tracking/lifecycle accountability of equipment, and overall administration of the division as directed by the Deputy Chief. The ADC works in partnership with Council, community groups and the media, while forming and maintaining collaborative partnerships with other organizations and agencies in the community and also contributing as a staff member of The City of Red Deer.

Staff

Leadership & Supervision - Hire, coach, manage performance, and oversee scheduling, discipline, and safety. Operational & Program Management - Plan, implement, and improve branch programs while ensuring compliance and effectiveness. Budget & Resource Management - Control budgets, staffing, contracts, equipment, and overall resource allocation.

Labour Relations

Management - Handle employee relations, grievances, negotiations, and act as a liaison with HR. Emergency & Strategic Leadership - Serve as On-Call Chief Officer, support incident response, and provide strategic advice to senior leadership. Operations provides emergency response services to The City of Red Deer through a Fire and EMS service delivery model.

Operations delivers fire suppression, Fire medical co-response (ALS), HAZMAT, technical /vehicle/ water rescue and wildland/urban interface services as well as advanced life support ground transport as a contract provider to Alberta Health Services. Operations also provides fire services with mutual aid partners in Central Alberta. The ADC, as directed by the DC, provides day-to-day leadership of the Fire Suppression branch and its Platoon Chiefs and staff.

The ADC leads the design, development and implementation of the emergency medical services operating procedures,



in conformance the MCPs and policies and legislated acts and regulations which govern the delivery of prehospital care. Additionally, they are responsible for analyzing external stakeholder requirements as they pertain to the emergency medical services delivery of prehospital care.

ADMINISTRATION: Leads in the design, implementation and review of the department Business Continuity Plan, which addresses planning, risk identification and mitigation strategies. Identifies and maintains compliance with standards, including department accreditations, Fire Underwriters and legislated requirements. Manages department OH&S;, disability management, department and corporate Safety Committees.

Liaises with corporate Health & Safety department for investigation, reporting and documentation purposes. Additionally, addresses department accreditation programs (CPSE), Fire Underwriters’ (FUS), CPSE, Accreditation Canada and IAED accreditation, management systems and internal / external audits.

COMMUNICATIONS: Responsible for overseeing the 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Branch; including staff and technology. Ensures the effective delivery of public safety communication services, focusing specifically on call processing time and Quality Assurance to dispatching protocol standards. Ensures that operational performance requirements of the branch meets or exceeds the terms of contracts with other external municipalities and the Province.

Analyzes and identifies liability and risk issues arising from services provided by the 9-1-1 ECC.

TRAINING: Provides input and guidance to assist the department in prioritizing training initiatives, based on life safety, legal, legislated and mandatory department requirements. Assist with strategic planning related to training programs, learning & development processes, course implementation and program review. Oversees the activities of the Chief Training Officer and the Fire Training Facility.

Collaborates with Operations, required stakeholders and the CTO in the design, development, implementation and evaluation of training branch courses and programs. The City of Red Deer Emergency Services oversees the responsibility of ensuring compliance with the Quality Management Plan (QMP). The QMP is a documented in which the City agrees to perform certain duties within the Fire Prevention Bureau, such as Fire Inspections and Fire Investigations.

The portfolio is responsible for the planning of community services/safety programs in prevention, inspections, licensing, education, regulation, financial revenues, investigations, and partnerships with municipalities, provincially and federally.



Oversees the activities of the Fire Marshal and Fire Prevention Branch providing day-to-day guidance to ensure compliance with administrative codes, laws and ordinances, policies, procedures related to community safety. Successful completion of a two-year certificate or diploma in Fire Service Administration Management, or a related field.

Emergency Fire

Dispatch – Q certified considered an asset.

Qualified Fire Officer

Level II (NFPA 1021) considered an asset. Is creative and creative in seeking new revenue sources, partnerships and new ways of delivering sustainable services.

Change

Management – Ability to support, embrace and champion initiatives mandates within the organization. Help others within the organization understand what the initiative means to them and to gain buy‑in from those resisting change. Comprehensive knowledge of current fire suppression, firefighting techniques, fire codes and standards. Understands and has working knowledge of the principles of risk management, legal issues and liability management.

Financially

Competent and Confident – Strong working knowledge of budgeting, variance analysis and how operations impact the financial aspects of the business. Recognition that Numbers Don’t Tell the Whole Story – understand that narrative information and qualitative factors need to be included with financial figures in order to add value to financial analysis reports used for management and decision‑making purposes. Cognizant of the development of staff and will utilize a collaborative approach to getting the work done.

Politically astute yet not political – able to gain the trust of fellow Red Deer Emergency Services employees and the public. Direct and coordinate a multidisciplinary staff in firefighting, fire prevention, and fire service activities. Establish relationships and work cooperatively with City Council, Corporate Leadership Team, Operational Leadership Team, employees and the public.

Organization

Savvy – Understands the workings of municipal government, structure and culture in order to deliver performance and customer value. Strategically and systemically evaluates the impacts of decisions on projected needs and prospective services, not just in Emergency Services, but as a critical member of the Protective Services Division leadership team. Will be able to demonstrate judgment from a broad perspective – will have a keen understanding of Municipal Fire Administration.

Multi‑task Oriented – Ability to change gears quickly, manage heavy workloads and tight deadlines and assess and make appropriate recommendation both internally and externally.

Regular

Full-Time 66.93 to $83.66 per hour. $75 hours biweekly, Monday to Friday. Some evening and weekend work may be required. The City of Red Deer does not permit the use of unauthorized internet resources or Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools (for example, Copilot, ChatGPT or any other form of AI) during interviews or any supervised or timed assessments.

📌 Assistant Deputy Chief (Red Deer)
🏢 City of Red Deer
📍 Red Deer