Swift Current Fire Department experienced busy 2023
The Swift Current Fire Department had one of their busiest years ever in 2023 with an increase in the average number of fire calls as well as more medical calls related to drug overdoses.
“It was one of our top three busiest years,” Swift Current Fire Chief Ryan Hunter said. “It was just under 700 emergency calls.”
There was a total of 122 fire calls in 2023 compared to 108 such calls in 2022 and 103 in 2021.
“We always do a three-year average when we mention if our fires have gone up, because you can always have that one year where there’s an anomaly,” he said. “We average it out over three years and our fires are up. When we do all the stats, we’re averaging 50 separate fires a year.”
That number of an average of 50 fires is different from what was recorded as fire calls for the year. Firefighters were dispatched to 122 fire calls, but not all of them were fires. Calls in this category can vary from structure fires to grass or garbage fires as well as false alarms.
“We get dispatched to fires and it may end up being a false alarm, but our guys are in full gear when they step out of that rig,” he said. “When they enter the building, they realize it’s just smoke. It’s a smoking belt on a furnace or they’re doing drywall or some kind of renovations and the dust has set the alarm system off, but we don’t know that when we’re responding to it.”
Two significant structure fires occurred in March 2023. A house fire on 6th Avenue NE caused a single fatality and another residential fire on 5th Avenue NW caused heavy damage, but residents were away at the time and there were no injuries.
The main reason for the higher average number of 50 fires was unattended cooking fires. People will start with the preparation of their meal, but then get preoccupied with something else.
“There’s just so many distractions that people have now, because life is a lot busier than it used to be 30 years ago and it’s just not helping the numbers for fire safety,” he said.
The ability of fire crews to respond in an effective manner to calls will make a crucial difference in preventing a cooking fire from become a more serious incident. The fire hall is well located and vehicle numbers on city streets do not cause delays.
“We get to most fires within seven minutes and the first two-and-a-half minutes of that is the dispatch time and our firefighters getting into their turnout gear,” he said.
“So generally, we can get to just about any place in the city with a five to six minute drive and time is everything. If we can get there quick, the fire is still small.”
There were 416 calls for medical assistance in 2023. The Swift Current Fire Department specifically responds to 911 calls categorized as Code 4 medical calls, which refer to serious and urgent calls.
The drug-related incidents within this call category for medical assistance increased in 2023. The experience of the fire department in this regard has been similar as that of Hutch Ambulance and the RCMP.
“We have been responding to drug related calls as a team far more often than we were in past years,” Hunter said. So the drugs nowadays are a lot more severe and they put people at a potential for being unconscious with something that is potentially fatal. We’re going to drug calls and having to do a serious amount of work to counteract what they’ve taken to actually keep them alive.”
There were 27 calls related to motor vehicle collisions in 2023 compared to 68 in 2022. A rather unusual call related to a motorized vehicle occurred in the early hours on June 21, when a small aircraft landed on the Trans-canada Highway in Swift Current. The plane experienced issues with the electrical system and the pilot made a safe and controlled landing on the highway.
“That could certainly have escalated to a lot bigger incident, but the pilot landed the plane and no one on the highway was in the way of that,” he said. “We got the plane off the highway and pulled it to the side of a local business and put it in their compound. So those you don’t see every day and it all worked out OK on that one.”
There were 16 rescue calls in 2023 compared to eight in the previous year. These calls can vary a lot from year to year and there is not a typical rescue call.
“Rescues will involve any situation where a person cannot free themselves,” he said. “So whether it’s a motor vehicle accident where we had to cut the doors apart or if it’s an elevator that’s stuck and we have to lower the elevator and force the doors open.”
There were 31 calls related to hazardous conditions, which was one less than in the previous year. Calls in this category can be due to concern over carbon monoxide in a building, gas leaks or spills of diesel, gasoline or chemicals.
There were 48 other calls during the year that did not fit in any specific category and there was only a single fire pit complaint during the entire year. He felt there is good awareness among residents about the rules and requirements for fire pits.
“When you get a permit, the rules are all there,” he said. “Our firefighters explain it very well and people are following the rules. A fire pit is not dangerous when you follow all the rules, but it’s when you break away from the rules that we get called to go and extinguish it. We only had one last year. So we’re very happy that people are following the rules.”
There were 769 building inspections during 2023, but this does not include any follow-up visits to a site.
“It quite easily could be 1,000 to 1,100, because some of them we have to go back twice,” he said. “So for 2024 we’re going to start tracking how many times we’re actually going to that particular address.”
These inspections are an important preventative measure to ensure the safety of buildings and all firefighters will complete the training to receive their inspector’s certificate.
“It certainly gives them a great perspective,” he said. “When you take that training, there’s certain things that you are far more in tune with on exactly what is going to make the building safer.”
He noted the City of Swift Current is really safety-orientated and both present and past councils gave attention to the equipment needs of the fire department.
“So if we need it and we can prove to them that we need it and it’s going to increase safety for the citizens, they’ll buy it for us,” he said. “So we have extremely good equipment.”
The skyrocketing price of equipment since 2020 presents a challenge to purchase and replace items. The fire department has been extending the lifespan of vehicles beyond the typical 20-year period.
“We’re at a 25-year life cycle with our equipment,” he said. “It’s not that a lot of the pieces of equipment can’t go longer, but you can’t repair it, because they become obsolete. They quit making parts.”
The 2024 City budget includes an allocation of $1.3 million for the replacement of a 2002 pumper truck. The new vehicle is expected to be delivered in 2025.
“It was very welcome news,” he said. “That engine will be replaced with a new one and I will not have to go through having a vehicle out of service, because there’s no parts for it. We will have a complete complement of engines to protect the City of Swift Current and our mutual aid that we’ve signed agreements with out neighbours.”