2019 sees slight increase in calls for County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service

Of those calls, 905 were in response to a medical emergency, 286 were related to motor vehicle collisions, 245 had to do with emergent alarms, and 387 were in response to structure (164 calls), vehicle (83 calls) and grass-brush fires (130 calls) County-wide. Seventy-eight calls were attributed to ‘other.’

Verdun says, of those fires, 86 had to be investigated, and that the causes varied from case to case.

“Everything from smoker’s materials, to improperly grounded appliances, to cut extension cords, I mean all sorts of issues that presented themselves. Some remain unknown just due to the extent of damage. So, there was no singular causality, and the cause determination is one of the reasons that we do investigations and track those statistics through the Fire Commissioner’s Office.”

Verdun adds that, thankfully, last year didn’t see much wildfire action locally, which cut down on their volume of calls, but also allowed them to dispatch crews and equipment to help battle the Chuckegg wildfire.

Also included in the annual report was the new equipment. Thanks to County Council’s continued support, the Regional Fire Service was able to design, purchase, and put into service three new water tenders.

“These are specifically designed fire apparatus that allows us to get water to a scene. These are special in the fact that they are designed to more rapidly pick up water, or pump water on to the truck, and then of course offload it, so we can get water to these scenes in the rural settings in a more expedient manner.”

Those tenders have been distributed throughout the County, and Verdun says they’ve already seen a lot of action and played a big role in helping extinguish fires.

Verdun also says the new fire station in the Hamlet of La Glace is nearly complete, and that he and the fire crews are very much looking forward to moving in there once it’s ready.

The County Regional Fire Service managed to go under their operation budget for 2019 as well. Their forecasted budget was at $8,244,862.97, but their actual was at $8,231,518.00, leaving a surplus of $13,344.97, which went back to the County. That budget supports the five stations and four contracted departments, and maintains a fleet of over 40 vehicles. It’s also used to provide and support training opportunities for approximately 400 firefighters.

Verdun adds that the Regional Fire Service faced some difficulties in training in the final months of 2019, and that those struggles continue today due to COVID-19. However, they have moved to more online training, have adjusted to meet the social distancing guidelines, as well as limited access to their stations to just key personnel. They are only allowing four fire fighters together at a time, unless they are responding to an emergency.

“For events like training and such, we’ve limited how many people can get together. When they do have to get together, we’ve got very stringent PPE (personal protection equipment) protocol, masks, gloves, etcetera, depending on the nature of the call. So we’ve got a lot of procedures in place to ensure their safety and minimize their contact, both with each other and with the customer when we deal with that.”

Verdun adds that while some restrictions are being lifted, COVID-19 is still a very real threat, and that people still need to follow the procedures and protocols that are in place.

by Liam Verster

2019 sees slight increase in calls for County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service

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