Town of Battleford fire chief, Larry Gabruch, gave his annual summary of the activities of the fire department during Monday’s council meeting.
In general, it was a busy year for the department, but also a successful one from the chief’s standpoint.
The most important item for Gabruch came in the categories of “fire fatalities” and “fire injuries.”
None were reported in 2015, as has been the case in every report going back to 2010. Gabruch called it “the ultimate scorecard in our business.”
The estimated fire loss was $65,000 for the year, down from $125,000 the year before.
Overall, there were 67 total town responses and 30 for the surrounding RM of Battle River, for a total of 97. That is up from 75 in 2014, 71 in 2013 and 77 in 2012.
In the town there were three residential dwelling fires, two commercial fires, nine vehicle accidents, four rescues, one vehicle extrication, six grassfires, two dumpster fires, two downed power lines and two mutual aid responses. One of the mutual aid responses was the fire on 101st Street in North Battleford at the Bargain Shop in the summer, and another was the deployment of equipment and personnel to battle the wildfires near La Ronge.
They also responded, along with Lloydminster, to a helicopter crash north of Paynton, which counted among the RM responses.
There were eight carbon monoxide calls, and that prompted considerable discussion about the need for working carbon monoxide detectors. Gabruch noted about half the calls were false alarms because the CO detectors were over five years old. Over five years, their sensitivity “starts to waver,” Gabruch said, and they give false reads.
CO detectors over five years old should be replaced, said Gabruch. The date of the detector’s manufacture can be found on the back on the detectors, said Gabruch.
As well there were 28 false alarms, up from 22 the year before and the highest level seen in the past 10 years. There were also 11 false alarms in the RM.
In all 39 of 97 calls were false alarms. Gabruch agreed the issue needed to be addressed.
Gabruch said they had been noticing over the last five years that “more and more principal residences and businesses now have alarm monitoring systems in place. They have become more economical.”
Unfortunately, there are a number of companies delivering the service and often customers aren’t properly educating the purchasers of the operation, and “we’ve also found there’s a lack of ongoing maintenance to monitoring alarms,” said Gabruch.
He noted false alarms could be a nuisance, and there’s an expense to them as well.
Among the RM responses, there was one residential dwelling fire, seven vehicle fires, a chemical/fuel spill, a farm implement fire, five vehicle accidents, three grassfires and one natural gas leak.
With respect to traffic accidents, there was discussion at the meeting about the intersections on Highway 4 and the traffic light changes there.
Gabruch said perhaps council could consider lobbying for funding for signs giving advance warning of “light change ahead” between 22nd and 29th streets, to help reduce the risk of accidents there.
