The Flin Flon Fire Department saw a 28 per cent uptick in calls in 2017 over the previous year.
Over the year, the department received a total of 74 calls – a significant increase over the 53 it responded to in 2016.
Most of the calls took place during nighttime hours, with the most common call coming from fire alarms.
Eight structure fires were reported in 2017, the same number as in 2016. Most fires were either incendiary or suspicious in origin, while 39 per cent of fires were electrical in origin.
Fire Chief Chad Cooper said many of the electrical fires took place in old homes where electrical supplies are less stable.
“A lot of those older homes didn’t have a lot of electrical accessories back in the ‘60s. They only had one or two outlets for a living room, so everyone overloads those sockets and runs extension cords around their house. That’s not good to do,” he said.
While the number of structure fires was the same and the total of staff incident hours increased, the fires have been less severe. Estimated fire damages in 2017 were reported as $600,000, just over half of 2016’s reported damages.
One person perished as a result of a fire in Flin Flon last year. The person died after structure fire in a Fifth Avenue home in June.
Cooper said the rate of emergency calls can vary every few years.
“They come in cycles. There might be a few years where the trend goes up and it kind of levels out, then drops again. It happens a lot of times,” he said.
“Overall, compared to our population before, when there were 10,000 or 15,000 people here, we were running around 120 calls a year. Now we’re only seeing about 70 calls. A lot of that is population based.”
Increased training has been one of Cooper’s top priorities since joining the fire department in 2016.
Over the past year, the department has run a fire dynamics course, distance courses through a fire college, and upgraded their training grounds at the City of Flin Flon’s works yard.
Cooper also added the department has restarted its Level 1 firefighter certification program.
“We have 12 students in that who are going in for testing in May,” he said.
“It’s pretty intensive – it’s 200 hours of classroom and practical skills training. At the end of the day, they’re a certified Level 1 firefighter, which is a pretty amazing achievement for volunteer firefighters.”
The extra training appears to have paid off. Average response times were quicker than both last year’s average time and the department’s target response time. Full fire response after a call, complete with fire trucks and equipment, takes less than eight and a half minutes.
Not only is that time faster than several other comparable departments in Manitoba, it’s also the fastest response time for the department in the last eight years.
“By the time I get to scene, the fire truck’s already come with a full crew of six. That’s quite amazing for here,” said Cooper.
