NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
Fire Chief Chad Eakins presents the Fire and Emergency Services 2024 year-in-review report to members of a city committee Monday afternoon at City Hall.
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
On average, Medicine Hat firefighters responded to calls five seconds sooner than their targeted time last year, a response time that is already several minutes below the provincial average response time for calls in communities of a similar size.
Monday Fire Chief Chad Eakins presented the Fire and Emergency Services 2024 year-in-review report to members of the public services committee and said that local firefighters responded to emergency situations in six minutes and 15 seconds and arrived on scene to structure fires in six minutes and nine seconds.
“Which really is a significant number, like-sized communities are responding to incidents between eight and 14 minutes, depending on other communities,” said Eakins. “So really the level of service that the residents are receiving in Medicine Hat is extremely high when you look at the per capita response.”
The response time is also below the service’s targeted time of six minutes and 20 seconds, a time approved and set by council to ensure local firefighters respond to emergencies.
Notably local firefighters are able to gear up and be on the road within an 80-second time period constantly.
“When we talk about turn out time, these folks are hustling to get to the trucks,” said Eakins. “We’re out the door in 80 seconds, which is critically important to the overall response time.”
In 2024 firefighters responded to a total of 4,721 incidents, of which 2,464 are classified as emergency incidents including fires, rescues, medical responses and motor vehicle collisions.
Of those, firefighters battled 43 structure fires at residential houses and six structure fires at non-residential buildings. Firefighters also reported attending 257 fire events classified as “other,” however, of those, 55 were reported encampment fires.
Of all combined fires, 58 investigations were conducted. According to the report, last year the department saved $83.29 million in property and infrastructure from fire.
Local crews also attend 256 motor vehicle collisions, 457 medical first responses and 1,734 life safety checks.
“When you think about it, and all the different facets of the service that you guys and ladies do to maintain a healthy and safe environment, that to me, is a really important piece I want to recognize,” said Coun. Robert Dumanowski.
Last year the Medicine Hat Fire and Emergency Services formed a new partnership with HALO Air Ambulance to work to strengthen emergency response capabilities in the region as HALO’s official flight-following team.
The report also highlighted three challenges the service is currently facing that includes an increased number of calls for fires occurring at vacant properties and encampments in the city.
Firefighters also report a higher number of overdose-related emergency calls related to the opioid epidemic. All local firefighters are trained to administer naloxone on scene in an attempt to reverse the overdose.
Firefighters also say lithium-ion batteries are volatile and can ignite and burn in extremely high temperatures, releasing toxic gases and posing a risk of explosion.
Those batteries are commonly found in smartphones, laptops, power tools, kitchen appliances and electric vehicles.
Eakins says with the increase in production of electric vehicles, scooters and cell phones, fire services are concerned with the challenges these types of fires present when extinguished.
Last year the service also expanded its community outreach by creating a life safety educator position and have increased their public education and fire prevention programs.
Throughout 2024, the service provided fire prevention education to more than 5,200 local students and more than 580 adults, including 85 new Canadian citizens.
Another significant milestone reached by fire services last year, 12 local firefighters celebrated their 20th year of service. Additionally 11 firefighters celebrated reaching their 12th year of service.
“I think you have to have a good leadership team to have a real solid team, and I think we’ve got a really great leadership team that really leads,” said Eakins. “I think that as a collective group, the department is really all pulling in that same direction and really focused on the residents and the level of service that we provide to the residents.”
