Town of Cochrane Fire Services statistics indicate that while Cochrane fire calls continue to rise (601 in 2014, 561 in 2013) the July 2014 opening of the Bearspaw Fire Hall seems to be alleviating some of the pressure on Cochrane Fire.
There were 777 total calls in 2014, down from 810 the year before. This figure includes 91 calls to Rocky View County (RVC), down from 126 in 2013; highway calls also went down to 69, from 92 the previous year.
The 2013 numbers would have been impacted (higher than normal) as a result of the June 20, 2013 flood.
“The calls have decreased largely due to RVC establishing staff and equipment in Bearspaw. The County also changed how they operated from all of their halls,” explained Cochrane protective services manager Mac de Beaudrap.
He said that because Cochrane Fire responds to all Delta and Echo medical calls in town, as well as calls that Alberta Health Services (AHS) predict will take more than 20 minutes for an ambulance to attend, numbers for total calls were brought up, as 41 per cent of all calls were assistance provided to AHS.
“Cochrane Fire responds only to mutual aid fire calls in the County and we assist their forces on larger calls where specific additional equipment or personnel are requested,” said de Beaudrap, adding that the mutual aid partnership works both ways and that efficiency has improved overall with Cochrane Fire and RVC Fire Services.
According to Redwood Meadows Emergency Services (RMES) Fire Chief Rob Evans, RMES responded to 400 service calls in 2014; of these calls, 65 were fire-related, 121 were rescues, 173 were medical co-responses with AHS, 20 were Hazmat responses and 21 were classified as ‘other’.
“There were increases in rescue and medical co-responses that we believe were due, in part, to the repairs to bridges and infrastructure in the Kananaskis area after the damage incurred from the 2013 flood,” said Evans.
The numbers are slightly down from 2013, where total calls reached 414; it is important to keep in mind that these numbers were significantly impacted by the June 20, 2013 flood that caused devastation throughout Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows. Call breakdown for 2013: 70 calls were related to fire; 139 for rescue; 156 for medical co-response; 26 for Hazmat; and 23 for ‘other’.
Evans noted that it was an overall successful year for their Redwood Meadows department.
