Barrie firefighters responded to 8,128 calls for help last year, including 184 property fires and almost 5,000 medical assists with paramedics.
The majority of times that trucks leave the station - over 61 per cent of the time in 2015 - they were heading to medical assist situations, where firefighters were dispatched alongside Simcoe County paramedics to help individuals experiencing life threatening medical problems including heart attacks and trouble breathing.
Fire Chief Bill Boyes presented the 2015 annual report and service statistics to Barrie's general committee on Monday.
Councillor Peter Silviera challenged the numbers, questioning the high percentage of medical calls handled by fire services.
"The whole system is misusing the fire department for medical calls," Silviera said. "Do you have any solution? The way it is I don’t think we can afford it any more.
“The number of fires has decreased, but the cost of the department has increased across Canada.”
About 70 per cent of the time, a fire truck is the first vehicle to arrive at medical calls, partly due to the geographic location of fire stations.
"Is it not a duplicated service?" Silvera asked, suggesting fire and paramedics shouldn't always respond to calls together.
Boyes explained that serious medical calls to 9-11 will be dispatched simultaneously to fire and paramedics.
"We do respond alongside paramedics, but only to life threatening emergencies," he said, adding that firefighters are able to administer emergency medical care quickly to patients. We can get there earlier and provide life-saving support.
“There is a small cost associated with medical supplies, but we believe it pales in comparison with the service we provide."
The number of calls is spread out fairly evenly throughout the year, with about 650 to 750 per month, and Boyes said that the older northeast section of Barrie has slightly higher fire rates.
Here is a breakdown by type of call:
- Medical: 61 per cent
- False Alarms: 11 per cent
- Rescue: 8 per cent
- Other: 7 per cent (includes
- Carbon Monoxide Alarms: 4 per cent
- Public Hazard: 3 per cent
- Burn Control: 2 per cent
- Pre Fire: 2 per cent
- Property Fire: 2 per cent
Do you remember these major incidents that happened in 2015:
- An explosion on Collete Crescent in March caused over $400,000 in damage and four residents were seriously injured
- A large fire on Diana Way in June damaged three homes. The midday blaze had many residents commenting on how fast the fire grew and spread to neighboring homes. The cause of this fire was determined to be careless smoking.
- A significant fire happened in September at a licensed boarding, rooming and lodging house on Hickling Trail. This was a licensed boarding, rooming and lodging house with six students living in the resident. The Fire Marshal’s office was called in since the fire was deemed to be suspicious
- An overnight fire occurred in November resulted in a death in the downtown area. The resident had been occupying a small building on the property after a previous fire destroyed the original home.
- In June, firefighters participated in a cave rescue with other emergency services. A man was wedged 12 meters down, between the rocks for more than 13 hours before being rescued. Crews from Clearview, Barrie, Toronto and Simcoe County worked together to perform this rescue.