Final numbers are in for the activities of North Battleford fire department in 2016, with some declines and also some gains in the various categories.
In general, however, the declines were seen in the incident categories and up in the prevention categories, both representing good news overall for the department.
Perhaps the most important statistic in the numbers presented by Fire Chief Albert Headrick to the Jan. 16 planning committee meeting at City Hall were declines in the number of structure fires in 2016.
There were eight structure fires for a property loss of $785,000 for the year, down from 12 for a loss of $1,497,000 the year previously.
2015, of course, was the year of the major blaze that destroyed the Bargain Shop building downtown, an incident that drove up overall dollar loss numbers for that year.
In incident categories, 336 were reported in the city for 2016 compared to 378 for the previous year. In the surrounding RM 23 were reported compared to 22.
In city numbers, there were 60 needle pickups (compared to 55 the year before), 98 false alarms (down from 121), nine vehicle fires (up from seven), 13 grass fires (up from 12) and 12 dumpster fires (down from 24).
There were six dangerous goods calls (up from two) and 11 investigative calls (down from 13).
In preventions, there were 87 inspections/consultations (down from 128) but 542 for in-company inspections that deal with the fire code (up from 420). There were 37 fire inspections, 40 plan reviews and 28 fire pit inspections in 2016.
There was a decline in the public education category in 2016. Totals were down to 137 from 187 with station tours, fire safety school program presentations and fire safety seminars showing declines. But the categories of fire extinguisher training and public relations events showed increases, with the latter category up from 16 to 33.
One reason for the overall decline in public education was that the fire department was shorthanded for a period of time. The department needed to recruit a new deputy fire chief, so some areas weren’t covered, Headrick noted.
He expects to see those numbers rebound. A new deputy chief is now in place and Headrick says there are new initiatives they are looking at for 2017.
