Fort St. John Fire Department responded to over 2,000 calls in 2023

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John Fire Department responded to 2,012 calls in 2023, almost double compared to 2022.

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Troiano says calls for service have increased in many fire departments across Canada.

“From the previous year into this year, we’ve widened our scope for what we’re responded to, so that would be the increase in 2022 and then carrying forward into 2023,” Troiano said.

Half of the calls to the local fire department were medical responses.

“Those would be ones that we’d be going to help BC Ambulance for medical aids,” Troiano explained.

“‘Other’ would align more with technical rescue type calls, other types of public services calls, something that wouldn’t align with other categories there,” Troiano said.

In addition to the calls for service, the fire department also conducted 4,440 training hours.

Troiano says the training hours equate to approximately 148 hours per person in the department.

“This would be training that we do for firefighting, for any technical rescue types of skill sets, medical aid skill sets and wildland firefighting type stuff,” Troiano said.

The fire department also held 31 public education events that taught 3,041 participants.

“This is just being able to get into all of the elementary schools across Fort St. John, particularly through Fire Prevention Week,” Troiano said.

The department also conducted 2,138 fire inspections and 37 fire investigations.

February 5th marked the start of National Burn Awareness Week, and the City of Fort St. John Fire Department has been sharing tips on its Facebook page to prevent flammable liquid burns.