A Nova Scotia fire chief and deputy chief have been banned from the department for life after a snowmobiler was struck and killed by a fire truck last week.
"What we know is that the snowmobile was travelling on the roadway when it struck a snowbank. And witnesses who came upon them rendered assistance, called for help, and were providing a first aid on the roadway," RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay told cbc.ca Monday, adding that Blake Nicholson, 28, was still being helped when he was hit by the fire truck.
Collingwood and District Fire Chief Jerrold Cotton, who was driving, was not truthful with officers about the wreck. Deputy Chief Andrea Bishop, his wife, was in the apparatus as well.
Nicholson, who was pronounced dead at the scene, is survived by his fiance and two-year-old son.
"Once the hard evidence came out on Monday about what had happened as far as the fire truck striking the victim, then it was time for us to act," Mayor Rod Gilroy said after the packed meeting on Wednesday.
Although he said he would step aside, Cotton responded to an emergency call on Monday.
Municipal officials used a new law to remove and ban the two chiefs, according to Greg Herrett, the chief administrative officer.
"The only option that was available to the municipality to deal with a situation like this would be to disband the department. Pretty extreme option. And so with the enactment of the bylaw, we were able to [discharge the volunteer fire chiefs] this time around," Herrett said.
Herrett said the bylaw, adopted in 2024, was in response to the driving while impaired charges against Cotton in 2020.
Cotton admitted to the offence and received a fine of $2,000, a license suspension from November 30, 2020 to May 31, 2022, and an 18-month prohibition order on motor vehicles. The municipality also banned Cotton from driving its vehicles for about a year.
