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Busy Year for Lamont County Emergency Services
Busy Year for Lamont County Emergency Services
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
This past year has been a busy one for Lamont County Emergency Services (LCES). Regional Fire Chief Bo Moore provided a year end update to members of Mundare town council on Feb. 20.
Moore, who has been in his position for the past eight months, was accompanied by Deputy Regional Fire Chief Scott Calder, who began his duties on Sept. 25, 2023. Calder has been a paid on call volunteer with the County for the past 20 years.
The total call volume in Lamont County in 2023 was 324, compared to 329 in 2022. He pointed out that 24 of 153 calls were in the Town of Mundare and the remainder of those within the district. Moore said that represented 48 percent of the total calls in the county. “They were first in district or assisted with those calls in the district,” noted Moore. Of those 24 calls, eight were medicals, six were fires, five were alarms, three motor vehicle collisions, one gas leak and one public service (power incident).
Moore went on to say that the average members attending a call in Mundare was 7.1 and the average shoot time 7.6 seconds. Moore pointed out that the average of 7.1 members attending “is almost double the average of some of the districts.” Moore added that it is a very good response out of Mundare district and appreciated the dedication and service appreciate the firefighters provide within and outside of the town limits.
He also advised council that LCES is taking extra steps in preparation for the 2024 wildland season. As everybody is aware, 2023 was a horrible fire season for the Province of Alberta, so we’ve taken extra steps to prepare…In the preparations, we’ve put another brush truck into service…that gives us four brush trucks within the county. We moved the ATV to a central location to have a better reach for calls for service. We have two off-road all-terrain vehicles in service in the county. We have applied for four public works staff from Lamont County to attend a dozer boss class with Alberta Wildfire…What that does is allows public works staff the opportunity to use radio communications with Alberta Wildfire and with the Fire Services.”
LCES will also be hosting a wildland grass fire suppression class.
Other steps include:
· Hosting an upcoming wildland grass fire suppression class
· Securing vendor agreements with ground crews and helicopter for water bombing services
· Establishing preferred vendor list for water truck companies
· Looking into contracting additional private wildland crews
· Working on putting a Fire Behaviour Analyst on contract
· Secured funding for six weeks extra duty crews for spring fire season
· Purchased drone with thermal imaging for a variety of applications including brush pile inspections
A new command truck has been ordered for spring delivery as well as two new tenders for fall 2025 delivery, purchase of self-contained breathing apparatus cylinder, new fire records management system and purchase of drone with training of 10 pilots.
