Photo Credit: EverythingGP stock photo.

By Shane Clausing

County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service

County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service sees drop in calls in 2020

Apr 28, 2021 | 11:32 AM

The County of Grande Prairie Regional Fire Service has unveiled its annual 2020 fire report.

Throughout 2020, the fire department responded to 1,589 calls for service regionally, 531 medical calls, 260 motor vehicle collisions, and 86 fire investigations, resulting in about a 300 call decrease from 2019’s report.

Fire Chief for the County of Grande Prairie Fire Service Dan Verdun says seeing a drop in calls for 2020 was a good thing, but adds the pandemic played a big role in those numbers.

“It was a busy year,” said Verdun. “We did see a reduction in calls compared to 2019, but that is directly related due to the pandemic.”

Verdun noted that some of the AHS calls they normally would get were taken away so fire crews can avoid potentially contracting COVID-19.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

“Working closely with AHS (Alberta Health Services) we saw a reduction (in calls) based on AHS’ removal of some of the medical calls that we (normally would) attended.”

“We did attribute that to the fact that the provincial mandate saw a reduction for our MFR (Medical First Response) program. Our program did not attend as many calls because AHS just didn’t dispatch us to the ones that were very specifically to be noted for COVID.”

Another reason for a drop in calls was also the lack of wildfires reported in the Peace Region.

“Luckily, there were no big issues where it required deployments like it did in years past,” explained Verdun.

“We were fairly well spared locally in the fact that we didn’t get a very severe wildfire season. We didn’t get that drying trend which in the midst of a pandemic was very beneficial for us.”

Verdun mentioned the department also came under budget in 2020.

He says operations did pick up for fire services after the initial COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in May 2020 and Verdun says calls are picking back up to pre-pandemic levels.

“Right now, we seem to be tracking similar to how we have in years past. From that perspective, we do see a normalization.”

Other things of note in the 2020 report were that there was a record number of fire permits issued. In total, 2,653 permits were dished out to County residents as people stayed home because of the pandemic.

Three new fire tenders were received and placed into service that provide an enhanced ability to supply (shuttle) water to fire incidents. These units assisted in successfully mitigating three substantial fires in early 2020.

The County Fire Service says the goal in 2021 is to remain highly proactive to the ongoing personnel needs related to the pandemic and to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.