Institutional Collective Action in Ontario’s Fire Service: Conducive and Inhibiting Factors of Local Collaboration of Fire Safety Inspections and Enforcement
The economic, political, and social environment in Ontario is placing increased pressure on the delivery of local fire prevention services and fire chiefs and elected officials are expected to do more with fewer resources. Subsequently, exploring mechanisms to work collaboratively with neighbouring fire departments in order to improve the efficacy of fire prevention programs should be a priority. This paper examines the conducive and inhibiting factors of voluntary collaboration for fire prevention activities within Ontario’s fire service. A cross-sectional study and analysis was undertaken to collect data of relevant variables at a specific point in time using a triangulation approach. The findings reveal that the conducive and inhibiting factors of voluntary collaboration of fire prevention activities were consistent with the literature. This leads to the conclusion that local municipalities considering alternative service delivery options might explore opportunities to voluntarily collaborate with one or more of their neighbours to meet their local needs and circumstances
