PG Fire Chief says call volumes have spiked by about 40% since 2015

One of Cliff Warner’s biggest priorities heading into 2024 is to increase staffing levels within the Prince George Fire Department.

Ideally, the fire chief would like to add another truck to their current fleet and is meeting with council regarding what can be done about it.

Currently, personnel from three different halls is the norm when responding to a residential blaze while – for a larger commercial or multi-family structure, all four halls are called out to the scene.

During a year-end interview with Vista Radio, Warner told MyPGNow.com the life of a firefighter has gotten a lot busier with little to no relief in sight.

“In 2015, we were around 6,000 calls a year and now we are tipping the 10-thousand call mark and there has not been a change in the staffing plan. That is part of the plan is working with the council on this process to look at it and identify that those needs back in 2015 are still a reality.”

Eight years ago, an initial Standards of Cover report was done where at that time it was noted by the National Fire Protection Association the local fire department was lacking in the ability to achieve the right number of firefighters on a structure that is larger than a residential home.

This would include a three-story walkup, apartments, or other forms of larger buildings.

“For us to meet those standards, increasing our staffing levels will achieve those. It will provide a bit of relief. The majority of our call volume has been coming out of this hall (Fire Hall 1) and so staffing another truck at this hall would alleviate or flatten some of the pressure of just one truck responding,” added Warner.

Currently at Fire Hall One, the department has one engine that carries water to put out fires and is the primary response unit. A rescue truck is also part of the fleet that is staffed by two members and is viewed as an “equipment truck” that has specialized tools to help conduct certain types of rescues.

Furthermore, personnel from three different halls is the norm when responding to a residential blaze while for a large commercial or multi-family structure, all four halls are called out to the scene.

“That gets us the number of firefighters we need to be able to conduct all of the evolutions that are needed to put that fire out. For a larger, multi-family building, or a commercial structure fire we will respond with all four halls to that event.”

“We also can call staff back that are off-shift to support if it is going to be a long event or if we need to provide support for other calls. Adding staffing or staffing another truck would allow us to have the right number of members on the scene and would create a daily buffer of a truck that would be available to respond to other incidents,” said Warner.

Warner added the local fire department saw a 15% spike in service calls for 2023. Roughly 55% of the call volume was for medical-related incidents.

While that number might seem high to some, it plateaued when compared to other years.

“One of the comparators we noticed with the significant increase in call volumes is that the increase in our volume from a medical level is number nine on our list of incident responses. There are eight other incident types that we respond to that were increasing at a greater rate than what medicals were.”

“The big ones are burning complaints and item fires. With the fires that are happening at a much lesser scale or on those smaller levels, we are getting called out when individuals see fire. We see the situation happening with our homeless population and also with the wildfires, people are concerned it might get away and they are calling us to respond.”

The most notable fire of note in 2023 was the downtown explosion on Dominion Street sent three people to hospital, one of which was Victoria Mcgivern, a city employee, who was transferred to a Vancouver Hospital for further treatment of her injuries and burns.

Prince George firefighters noted that 50 businesses were impacted by residual damage related to the explosion – nine buildings had their windows blown out.

Warner noted the Prince George RCMP remain in charge of the investigation and that local firefighters will assist where needed.

“Our involvement right off the hop is from a statistical point of view. We do partner with the RCMP if there is a criminal component to it or if there is a fatality – we partner with the RCMP and now they are managing it from their perspective.”

Lastly, Warner stated to MyPGNow.com, the northern capital is in the running to host a wildfire summit that would be organized by BC Fire Smart, which would include boots-on-the-ground training.

The fire chief is also hoping to continue progress on landing a fire training site project. A feasibility study was conducted and the fire department is hoping to get approval via the budget to continue that work in 2024.