The new aerial ladder truck is 60,000 lbs and 44-feet long, requiring comprehensive driver training and proficiency exams. Pictured is Captain Brown working with a member of the department, prior to qualifying. (Courtesy of Kyle Wilkinson)
Cranbrook Fire & Emergency Services says they had plenty of work to do last year, despite a fielding a lower volume of calls for service.
Fire Chief Scott Driver says they received 567 calls for fire or rescue last year, down from 571 in 2021.
Driver says 150 of those calls were fire related.
“That breaks down to 22 structure fires, 67 of which are uncategorized and that means electrical appliance fires, contents fires, encampment fires.” Driver says. “In addition, there were 29 interface fires, 15 vehicles fires, and then on top of that we had 165 rescue calls.”
He says they were able to help with other issues apart from fire rescue.
“Certainly the suffering that individuals are undergoing is increasing,” he says. “The Knight’s Hall fire was a very good example of the downstream impacts. That took six weeks of my time to try and sort through, and so I was very busy for the next six-weeks and that was a downstream consequence and that’s what I’m referring to there.”
Driver adds Cranbrook Fire responded to 1,072 calls to help with BC Ambulance Service 2022, that’s higher than the 875 ambulance assistance calls in 2021.
Click here to read the report.
You can view Driver’s presentation to Cranbrook City Council here.
– Article contains information provided by the City of Cranbrook and Cranbrook Fire & Emergency Services
– Scott Driver, Director of Cranbrook Fire and Emergency Services
Comments