City councillors are set to receive the Calgary Fire Department’s annual report during Monday’s council meeting. Putting a halt to escalating response times, and the associated cost of doing so, is expected to be a point of contention.
The annual report is expected to detail the struggles firefighters face as they attempt to reach benchmark response times while combatting Calgary traffic and urban sprawl. The CFD target, set in 2008, is to respond to an emergency call within four and a half minutes of being dispatched, 90% of the time.
To alleviate the issue, a new fire station has opened in the southeast community of Seton and a northwest station is scheduled to begin operation by the end of 2016. Two additional fire halls have received approval but remain unfunded.
According to Calgary Fire Department officials, there has been a reduction in the number of fires in Calgary but the workload on fire crews continues to increase.
In the last five years, CFD responses have experienced:
- A 22% decrease in the number of fire calls
- A 17% increase in medical calls
- A 55% increase in non-emergency calls (including hazardous materials and non-emergency rescues)
With files from CTV's Bridget Brown
