Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Thursday, 26 March 2015 06:00
Calls to Vernon Fire-Rescue dispatch were down 23 percent last year. The service took 4,144 calls for incidents of all types, compared to 5,433 in 2013. Fire chief Keith Green says one reason was fewer call outs for medical incidents, with more of those being handled by BC Ambulance. "We are always there to help and we often do, but if we're not needed, then that's better that our resources are freed up for other incidents," Green tells Kiss FM. Despite that, first responder calls made up the largest number of calls to the department at 37 percent, with 1,390 in 2014. The Vernon department responded to 73 reportable fires last year, 29 which were to structures, 27 outdoor, and 17 to vehicles. Two of the biggest were at Kin Race Track and to the Okanagan Growers bins on Waddington Drive. In Chief Green's annual report to council, he says September was the busiest month for Vernon emergency calls with 212 last year, while the busiest day was Fridays with 345 calls. Meantime, Vernon Fire Rescue continues to make progress in cutting its overtime costs. City council called for reductions a few years ago, and fire chief Keith Green says they have responded, reducing the fees by 127-thousand dollars last year. He says one reason is providing more training while on duty."That's been a big part of what the training division was created for, to try and get more of the focus on on-duty so we didn't have to bring guys back. We're starting to see the payoff for that now," says Green.
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Full 2014 Fire Report at P.64-91 of Agenda Package March 23, 2015.
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