SUNDRE – A significant increase in the number of medical assists responded to in 2022 by the local fire department is primarily behind a substantial surge that for the second year in a row ended up setting a record call volume.
Almost half of the 355 incidents logged last year by the Sundre Fire Department involved medical assists. The 355 calls represented a 155 per cent increase as compared with past annual averages for every preceding year with the exception of 2021, which at the time had also set a record number of calls, reads part of a departmental report prepared for council by Chief Ross Clews.
“A majority of our calls are medical first response,” Clews told the Albertan during a Jan. 26 phone interview.
“So, we’re responding with the ambulance or ahead of the ambulance,” he said, referring to instances when an ambulance ends up being delayed.
Among some of the highlights from his report that broke down the kinds of calls responded to last year were: 40 motor vehicle collisions; 20 structure fires; nine outside fires; 19 rubbish or grass fires; 18 instances when a smoke detector was activated but there was no fire; as well as 36 false alarms or issues with internal or local alarm systems.
Meanwhile, the number of medical assists responded to last year – 176 – more than quadruples the amount of motor vehicles the department attended, and is almost eight times as many as the number of structure fires reported.
Asked if he had observed any jumps in other types of calls such as collisions and fires, Clews said the increase was mainly the result of more medical calls.
“Our grass and vegetation fires will increase if it’s a dry year, of course,” he said. “But the medical first response, last year it was kind of attributed to COVID. But it seems the numbers are staying around the same.”
Responding to another question about whether the fire department has historically speaking always responded primarily to medical assists, Clews said, “I would have to say yes; it’s always been high on our percentage list. But it seems to have increased.”
Additional highlights gleaned from the chief’s report included: seven new recruits; the ongoing cadet program that’s being run in coordination with Sundre High School and wraps up this April; the order of a new primary response fire truck that was placed in 2022; as well as a back country rescue quad that was replaced and upgraded last year.
