BARRHEAD - Barrhead Regional Fire Services (BRFS) members spend so much time chasing ambulances last quarter they may as well be lawyers.
That comment was made in jest by County of Barrhead reeve Doug Drozd before BRFS chief Gary Hove's Dec. 7 quarterly report to council, but there is more than a grain of truth to it.
Once again, Hove said that the majority of BRFS responses, at least in the third quarter of 2021, were from medical and ambulance assists.
In July, August and September, the BRFS responded to 45 medical assist calls, split almost evenly between the town and county, with 21 coming from the county and 24 from the town.
Hove said due to a paramedic shortage and staffing issues Alberta Health Services (AHS) is having with ambulances, it does seem that the BRFS is responding to more medical assist calls.
But, he noted, the BRFS would be responding to even more medical assist calls had he not changed the department's medical response protocols in 2018 to only include responses to the most immediate or critical medical calls.
Hove added that despite the new protocol, AHS can still request the fire department if they need specific help, such as if they need help lifting a patient.
"To help limit the costs, what we've done is to only pay for four responders and only members who are on the truck get paid," he said, adding that change saves about 1,100 firefighter hours annually.
Hove added to cut down costs even further, he and assistant chief Ted Amos will often respond to those calls themselves.
As salaried employees, they are essentially free labour.
"It all depends on the type of call and where the ambulance is coming from," he said.
Reeve Drozd noted that at both the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association's (AUMA) fall conferences, municipalities brought forward resolutions to have those organizations lobby the province "to get more ambulances on the road."
Over the same period, the BRFS also responded to seven grass and wildland fires (all in the county), and 14 alarm investigations split equally between the municipalities, along with one mutual aid request and nine motor vehicle collisions (all in the county).
Hove also said the BRFS used the summer months to wrap up their National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1001 certification course. Eight recruits challenged the course.
"Everyone who took it was successful," he said.
The NFPA is a non-profit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. The NFPA 1001 course sets the standard for certification for professional firefighters.
In the summer, Hove said they also run a pump refresher course.
"We usually do it then just because it is a good time to flow water," he said.
However, because it was an uncommonly dry summer, the town asked the department if they could reserve or ration their non-essential water use, Hove said.
"Instead of just having flow right out of the hydrant, we set up portable tanks, as we would do in a rural operation where we are circulating water through the portable tanks," Hove said.
Unfortunately, not everyone was successful, he noted, as two of the six students did not pass.
"Which isn't unusual," Hove said. "It is one of the more difficult courses that we do. It involves more math to calculate friction losses."
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
