The annual report of the Battleford Fire Department for responses to the Town of Battleford and RM of Battle River was presented to town council at Monday’s meeting.
Fire Chief Larry Gabruch delivered the report, which consisted of the following:
The total town of Battleford responses for the year was 49, up from 44 the year before. The estimated fire loss, however, was up substantially to $125,000, an increase from $20,000 the year before. That was primarily due to an industrial building fire early last year, said Gabruch.
For the RM of Battle River there were a total 26 responses, down one from a year earlier. The grand total of responses was 75, up four from 2013.
Of the town’s 49 responses, the largest number — 22 — were false alarms. Those were up by 14 from a year earlier and did pose a bit of a concern for council. There were also three false alarms in the rural municipality.
Vehicle accidents made up another significant chunk of activity. There were five vehicle accident responses in the town, a marked decline from nine the year before and 10 and 13 the prior two years.
Gabruch said this decline can be attributed to the rise in the number of controlled intersections in the town.
However, there were also a total of 12 vehicle accident responses in the rural municipliaty. This was a result of BFD taking over responsibility for extrication, which generates positive cash flow for the department. “These are fee-for-service billable calls,” Gabruch said.
In the town, there were four commercial fires, three residential dwelling fires, three rescues, one vehicle extrication, four grassfires, one refuse/dumpster fire, a camp fire, four carbon monoxide calls and one mutual aid response to make up their total.
The number of carbon monoxide calls is down slightly from the previous two years, with greater public education cited. Gabruch noted, however, that CO detectors have only a five-year life and noted some of those calls were related to that.
In the RM, there was one residential dwelling fire response, one outbuilding fire, five vehicle fires, and four grass fire responses.
There were no fire fatalities in 2014 and no fire injuries, which Gabruch said was the most important statistic.
Overall, the stats for the previous 10 years show an interesting trend in terms of responses. The total BFD responses have increased steadily upward from 24 in 2004 to the current level of 75. There were 77 responses in 2012 and 84 in 2010.
“For the most part what you see in this trend line is primarily representative of the growth of our community and Battle River,” said Gabruch. The last five years have seen anywhere between 71 to 84 calls, Gabruch noted.
Part of the explanation is they now look after all vehicle identification in the community, which has added to the workload.
One issue raised at the meeting was what BFD would do in a situation involving surrounding municipalities or reserves that might call for assistance, but don’t have an agreement with them for service.
Councillor Gordon Yarde asked whether they were likely to get calls from surrounding reserves, such as Red Pheasant, if there is a fire.
“There’s always that possibility,” Gabruch responded, although he added at present they don’t have any agreements other than with the RM of Battle River. There is also a mutual aid agreement with the City of North Battleford to support them.
They have also responded to calls and assisted in evacuation, said Gabruch.
“Certainly if the RCMP contacted us and they were on scene and would confirm that life is in peril, then we would respond,” said Gabruch.
They would not provide coverage short of that, however, and Gabruch also pointed to the balance between lending assistance and “yet not jeopardize our own community or our own responsibilities we have with our existing agreements we have in place.”
The fire chief did offer some flexibility. “We are in the business of saving lives, so we’re not going to look the other way if that was presented to us,” said Gabruch. “But beyond those conditions that I have outlined, that is our standard operating procedure.”
