No penalties given yet for false alarms that attract firefighters

The Moose Jaw Fire Department has the ability to lay fines against property owners when responding to false alarms, based on recently updated municipal bylaws, but no one has been penalized yet. The department responded to 84 false alarms during the second quarter of this year in town and in the rural areas, compared to 85 during the first quarter, for a total of 169 false alarms during the first half of 2019, according to a second-quarter report presented during city council’s Aug. 12 regular meeting.

Council voted 6-1 to receive the report; Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed. In comparison, there were 86 false alarms during the second quarter last year and 68 during the same time period two years ago.

The fire department has not penalized anyone yet since it is working with property owners to cut down on the number of calls, Fire Chief Rod Montgomery told Coun. Scott McMann. Some people simply need to move equipment away from their homes or buildings to ensure false alarms stop happening. Changing the bylaw was not meant to make it more difficult for property owners to comply with the rules, Montgomery added.

Swanson expressed concern that none of the categories presented were separated into those that affected Moose Jaw and those that affected the rural areas. He suggested future reports should be divided so council knows what happens in Moose Jaw.

“That’s certainly why we’re working with the province right now, is to have a better process to identify what these calls are,” said Montgomery. “Even I look at it and think that to have those lines of separation would be beneficial.”

The department does respond to calls about picking up needles and keeps track of how many times it answers such calls, Montgomery told Coun. Chris Warren. Most of the department’s hazmat calls are for needle pickups.

“It’s certainly become an issue the last four to five years; we’ve seen an increase,” he said. “Other communities are starting to look for solutions (to this problem).”

When the health authority hands out needles on Tuesday, the fire department knows it will receive calls on Wednesday for pickup, Montgomery continued. If 10 needles are handed out, not all of them will be returned.

The long-awaited Fire Association Interest Arbitration Award was issued on April 26, which provided retroactive payments starting from Jan. 1, 2015, with an overall increase of 13 per cent divided up over six time periods.

Total retroactive back pay was $1,841,811.05, while pension retroactive back pay was $135,345.75, said Montgomery. This means a first-class firefighter now makes $99,252, up from $85,764 five years ago.

Montgomery added that the arbitration award expired last December, so the union will be going back to the negotiating table.

Three-year second-quarter comparison Numbers for the second quarter in 2019, 2018 and 2017 show:

• False alarms: 84/86/68

• Fire (structure, vehicle, grass, rubbish, etc.): 50/41/47

• First responder EMS: 22/15/8

• Hazmat: 38/38/31

• Malfunctioning equipment: 16/3/2

• Motor-vehicle collision: 30/27/35

• Carbon Monoxide, other: 0/0/5

• Rescue: 4/1/5

• Service calls: 6/5/5

Fire loss stats

The fire department battled fires in Moose Jaw during the second quarter that affected $42.43 million worth of property. More than $42.41 million was saved while $25,300 in property was lost. There were no reports of losses in rural areas. In comparison, the fire department battled fires worth more than $8.2 million during the second quarter of last year, resulting in more than $8.1 million in structures being saved and $132,601 structures being lost, both in town and in the rural areas. The next regular council meeting is Monday, Aug. 26.