OLDS — Fire department statistics for the second quarter in Olds and surrounding area remained pretty static compared to the second quarter of 2019, according to the department's chief Chief Andrew.
During a recent policies and priorities meeting, Justin Andrew reported that during the second quarter of this year, Olds Fire Department (OFD) recorded 56 urban incidents and 42 rural incidents versus 55 urban incidents and 37 in the rural area during the second quarter of 2019.
“Our numbers were fairly consistent from previous years, believe it or not,” he said.
“Obviously, with the onset of COVID, things quieted down for us in some respects.”
During the second quarter this year there were seven fire calls in the urban area, compared to five during the same period in 2019.
The department responded to eight fire calls in the rural area, double the figure for the same quarter last year when four were recorded.
In regard to the urban fires, Andrew noted that an arsonist is believed responsible for several such fires earlier this year.
He said that’s believed to have accounted for “a fair jump in our statistics.”
In town, Olds firefighters responded to three grass or rubbish fires during the second quarter this year, up from two during the same period a year ago.
In the rural area, they responded to nine grass or rubbish fires, up from seven during the same period in 2019.
In the urban area only one motor vehicle collision was reported during the second quarter this year, down from two during the same period in 2019.
In the rural area, two were reported in Mountain View County; exactly the same figure as during the second quarter of 2019.
Six motor vehicle collisions were reported on local highways during the second quarter this year, down from eight during the same period a year ago.
Firefighters undertook 14 medical assists in the urban area, a drop of two from the second quarter of 2019.
They undertook three medical assists in the rural area, compared to eight for the second quarter of 2019.
Andrew said the COVID-19 lockdown enabled a good response when incidents occurred.
“During COVID, because we had lots of our members working from home, our response was a lot higher than it would typically be,” Andrew told councillors.
“We don’t want to falsely indicate that things are great. We just had a better resource to draw from. But our numbers are very healthy for what we’re doing and what we need.”
Andrew said overall this quarter’s stats were pretty similar to those recorded during the same period last year.
“All in all, everything’s pretty equal and on-par and (there’s) nothing that jumps out at us as being a concern or a caution,” he said.
Council members voted to receive Andrew’s report as information.
