Armstrong Fire Services saw increase in calls in 2021

Feb 11, 2022 | 12:20 PM

Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Services Commission (FSC) had a very busy year in 2021.

The FSC presented a review of the past year to the City of Armstrong during the regular council meeting on Monday, Feb. 7.

The annual report showed the fire department responded to 425 calls to service, which is the highest number of calls received in the past five years.

The FSC noted that the majority of these calls were for first responders, followed by alarms, motor vehicle accidents, and the forest, grass and brush fires.

2021 Incident Breakdown (graphic courtesy of the Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Services Commission)

Missing person

Public asked for assistance locating missing youth

10h ago

Policing

RCMP searching for missing Vernon woman

14h ago

Underused Facility

Local MP calls for Vernon cadet camp be used for Armed Forces expansion

16h ago

The fire department also had a record-high 7,819 incident hours, though the yearly training hours total was recorded at 3,413, which is the fourth most time spent training in the past five years.

Five year comparison of call outs and training and incident hours (graphic courtesy of the Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Services Commission)

In addition to responding to incidents, the fire department provided 279 fire safety inspections in Armstrong and 300 in Spallumcheen in 2021; assisted in the investigation eight structure fires, eight vehicle fires and six wildland fires; and conducted public education programs on smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

The fire department was not called to assist with any incidents in Splatsin in 2021, though it did assist with a mill fire on June 3 and a cabin fire on June 4 at the Okanagan Indian Band.

The fire department also deployed resources to assist with wildfire operations in 2021.

Between June 30 and Sept. 1, the department’s Tender 1-2 were deployed for 768.75 hours, while Tender 1-3 and Engine 1 were deployed for 15 hours each. The members of the department were also deployed for a total of 1,681.5 hours during that time.

The FSC noted that the fire department received $317,520 in revenue for the wildfire deployment, and after taking away the expenses that left the department with a surplus of $228,467.

The fire department personnel is made up of three career members and 35 paid on-call members, eight of whom were recruited in 2021.

by Liam Verster

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