It’s still early in 2016, but this year is shaping up to be the busiest for Burnaby’s fire department.
The number of calls for almost everything that brings out the fire department has increased in the first quarter of 2016.
The overall call volume for the department has increased by more than 15 per cent to 3,743, from 3,175 during the first three months of last year.
The number of fires has spiked to 101, from 60 in the same time period last year, while motor vehicle incidents are also up to 318 so far this year from 252.
Accidental alarms, other fires, and public service calls are all up from last year.
But it was the increase in the number of medical emergency calls that caught the eye of city council.
Medical calls are up by about 10 per cent to 2,430 from 2,192 in 2015.
City politicians view the increase in part related to a change in the way the ambulance service responds to calls.
A few years back, B.C. Emergency Health Services downgraded certain types of medical emergencies, causing longer wait times for ambulances in some cases.
Mayor Derek Corrigan said it’s hard to tell if those changes are the reason for the increase in calls, but he said people are turning to the fire department because they’ll get to the call quicker.
“It’s the immediacy of someone attending who has some first aid training,” he said, noting firefighters are more expensive to send to a medical call but have less training than paramedics.
And he put the blame squarely on the provincial government, suggesting the fix is more ambulances and paramedics. But he also said there needs to be more education for people around when they need an ambulance. “The ambulance service is not there to address every single situation you might have,” he told the NOW. “If you sprain your ankle, getting a cab and going down to emergency can work.”
The mayor also said the nature of firefighting is changing, which is something municipalities will have to continue to deal with.
“Their jobs are changing and they’ve got to be equipped to be able to deal with the new reality for the firefighters’ job,” Corrigan said.
So far in 2016, there has been just three injuries and no deaths related to fires in Burnaby.
