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Abbotsford News Friday, April 4, 2014
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Quick response to emergency is a taxpayer expectation: Chief From A1
downgraded calls. “They’ve lessened the service to the citizens of each commulances respond. As the need to battle fires decreases, firefighters have diversified nity.” He said the types of calls that are now dispatched at routine their skills. All firefighters have medical first responder certificaspeeds include serious falls, serious hemorrhages and certain tion with the ability to address spinal injuries, operate automatic external defibrillators, provide oxygen therapy and other life-sav- pregnancy calls. They make up about nine per cent of overall ambulance calls or ing skills. “We actually specifically respond to what we consider are high- 125,000 patients per year, according to a report on the reallocation risk, and make a difference medically, not … to hold a hand,” said plan, and mean 800,000 fewer kilometres of lights-and-siren driving each year. Beer. Dr. William Dick, The average revice-president of sponse time for the medical programs AFRS is between at B.C. Emergency eight and nine Health Services minutes. Beer said (BCEHS), said the firefighters get to changes flow from a scene before an a rigorous two-year ambulance about 50 expert review that per cent of the time, assessed outcomes but they can begin for patients and the live-saving measures risks of high-speed before paramedics ambulance driving. arrive. Ambulances “It’s safer to the usually only have driving public, it’s two crew members, safer for our paraso having firefightmedics and it’s safer ers on adds bodies for our patients,” Dick to assist paramedics said Wednesday. with equipment and City councillors other tasks. Beer said and fire services firefighters often from Vancouver and ride an ambulance Burnaby have raised en route to hospital File photo the alarm that the to assist paramedics changes are reducwith requirements With better building materials and fire alarms, the overall rate of fires is going down. ing service to pasuch as chest comtients, and amounts pressions. This overlap in services has been noticed in jurisdictions across to the downloading of costs by the province onto municipal fire Canada. In Toronto, media reports suggest the situation has led to services. BCEHS maintains the changes are not a money-saving measure a fight for resources by the services, which are both run by the city. In Winnipeg, fire and paramedic services operate as separate but are strictly to improve care by speeding response to those in branches of a single department – the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic most urgent need. And it contends municipalities could Service – a practice that is increasingly make smarter use of their own resources being used around the world. (2013) by redeploying firefighters to other serThough Beer said the combination of vices if they didn’t opt to dispatch them to fire and ambulance could be financially Operating budget: $15 million beneficial, that model could not be as Average fire protection cost per capita: $106 routine calls where first responders aren’t medically required. easily applied here, as BCAS is operated Career firefighters: 90 But Beer said the BCAS changes impact provincially and the fire department is a Fire service employees making more than Abbotsford to a lesser degree, because fire municipal responsibility. $75,000 in 2012: 88 services here already use a lower response Abbotsford city manager George Murray Auxiliary firefighters: 106 level than in Burnaby and Vancouver. is currently conducting a core service re- Vehicles in fleet: 24 total Murray said that moving forward, “the view of all city services, adding it is im- Average response time: 8 minutes level of service from BCAS has to be considportant as civic taxation only represents Dollars lost in fire damage: $3.5 million eight per cent of the total amount of Dollars saved in property where dollar loss ered in concert with how fire services are provided.” money collected from taxpayers by feder- occurred: $70 million Abbotsford’s fire department now focuses al, provincial and municipal governments. more on educating people to prevent fires Incident frequencies Last October, BCAS changed 74 response from happening. With better building matedesignations, shifting dozens of call types Total incidents: 5,764 rials and fire alarms, the overall rate of fires – often for broken bones and other in- Fires with dollar loss: 5 per cent Fires with dollar loss and fire alarms (potenis going down. AFRS has begun enforcing cidents where the patient is medically fines for false fire alarms, not to collect stable – so that those ambulances now roll tial fires): 18 per cent Medical incidents: 48 per cent money, but to emphasize the importance at posted speed limits without lights and Hazmat incidents: 2 per cent of having alarms working properly, though siren, rather than code 3 at high speed. the chances of eradicating fires completely Officials say it’s meant an average of six is impossible. With less on-the-job experience, firefighters actually minutes slower arrival times to those calls, but allowed one minute faster average responses to urgent life-or-death emergencies need to train more for high-risk incidents in order to respond to like heart attacks, while reducing the risk of high-speed crashes fires quickly and effectively. But whether fighting fires or responding to medical issues, Beer between ambulances and other vehicles. B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Association president Mike Hurley said a quick response to any emergency is an expectation for said that doesn’t match what fire department first responders are citizens. “Our taxpayers here in Abbotsford have an expectation that they seeing. “Our experience in the field is it’s anywhere from 30 to 45 min- pick up a phone in an emergency situation… (they want) a quick utes and longer for an ambulance to show up,” Hurley said of the response.”
Fire service facts
– with files from Jeff Nagel
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